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Hybrid/Leucistic Egyptian Goose

Rushin_Bushin
15/03/2023 15:20

I thought I'd share these here, since I'm trying to gather opinions on what people think is causing this unusual look:

  • 15/03/2023 20:29
    At first I thought it was immature, but looking at pictures of immature egyptian geese, none have the greyish flight feathers and tail, or whitish head that this one does

    I think its probably a leucistic bird due to the overall reduction in pigmentation (I could be wrong!)
  • 17/03/2023 15:37
    It is 100% not a juvenile. This bird has looked like this for over a year and I grew up around Egyptian geese of all ages and not one of them ever looked like this. My only familiarity with morphs is deliberate mimicry or gender-deceptive morphage in birds such as hawks so I'm afraid I can't speak to that. I've messaged an expert on morphs to see what he thinks but these people are all very busy and rarely have time to get back to every message so we shall see. The suspicion of leucism in this instance is based largely on the washed out pinions and the fact that it seems to have smaller extremities along with being generally smaller, which is very common in albinos. I don't know how common it is in leucistic individulas, though. I'm afraid my knowledge of colour genetics errs on the mammalian side. I'd love to learn more about bird colouration, however. This particular pond is a hotspot for unusual birds - a greylag/Canadian pair produce offspring here every year for several years now and this year one of the hybrids seems to be trying to breed too.
  • 18/04/2023 18:09

    I say...

    let's call them all Egyptian Shelducks!

    Tadorna  fix it:)))

    S

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