Bar-headed Goose x Swan Goose hybrid

Bar-headed Goose Anser indicus x Swan Goose Anser cygnoides hybrid

This bird shows the long sloping bill/head profile of wild-type Swan Goose along with the yellowish bill colour and light silvery body feathers that are typically found on Bar-headed Goose hybrids. The dark crown and nape may be found on either species. It was smaller and shorter-necked than I would have expected this hybrid to have appeared, but hybrid expert Joern Lehmus has commented in support of this identification, pointing out that other examples of presumed Swan Goose x Bar-headed Goose hybrids have not shared the long neck that is often a feature of Swan Goose hybrids.

Bar-headed Goose x Swan Goose hybrid (with Greylag Geese including a domestic bird), Swanton Morley fishing lakes (Norfolk, UK), 25th February 2007

For comparison, here are photos of the parent species.

captive Bar-headed Goose, Grange-over-Sands (Cumbria, UK), 28th December 2011 and captive Swan Goose, Martin Mere (Lancashire, UK), 26th December 2014

For more photos of these species follow the links below: