Langeveld B & Langeveld T (2024) First hybridization of Domestic Swan Goose Anser cygnoides forma domestica with Barnacle Goose Branta leucopsis in the wild. LIMOSA 97 (1): 37-41.

Hybridization is common between species and even genera in Anatidae (ducks, geese, swans). Among geese, hybridization between dozens of pairs of species has been recorded. These occur both in captivity and in the wild. In 2023, near Voorhout, a mixed pair of (escaped/ feral) Domestic Swan Goose with (an escaped, since it was pinioned) Barnacle Goose, raised three hybrid goslings in the wild. The young birds are described and pictured (images 1-5): they were dark overall, with a black beak, dark brown upper parts of the head, back and wings and white underparts, with white patches on the cheeks. Their legs were green-orange. Strikingly, there was some variation in the presence of a white spot on the forehead, above the beak. It was virtually absent in one young, quite indistinct in another and clearly present in the third (image 3). About a month later, the two young that remained, showed a slight protuberance on their forehead. One young had developed a white neck with distinct brown specks (image 5). In their overall appearance, they were more reminiscent of a cross with Greater Canada Goose B. canadensis. This represents only the fourth occurrence of this hybridization and is the first one occurring in the wild. Furthermore, this is the first photographic documentation of specimens with proven parentage.

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