there's a white Canada Goose in my backyard

[Ben Gruagach]

I live by a small lake in Minnesota. We get Canada geese nesting at our lake every year. I particularly enjoy it when the parent geese bring their little goslings up right by my house to eat the bits of birdseed that have fallen from the birdfeeder on my deck.

This year we have an usual pair of Canada geese at our lake. One of the geese appears to be some sort of albino -- it's significantly lighter than every other Canada goose I've ever seen. Instead of black feathers it has sort of a chocolately brown, and the feathers that are usually grey are quite white. Instead of the usual black legs and feet like other Canada geese, this one has sort of orangy pink legs and feet.

It doesn't have pink or red eyes (that I can see) so I don't think it's a true albino. But it's definitely a mutant or mixed-parentage Canada goose.

I'm attaching a photo I took of the goose and its mate when they were on my back lawn.

Does anyone know any interesting lore about white animals? I've heard about white buffalo and white deer, but haven't heard anything about white birds (particularly geese) that are normally other colours.

[Shanti]

Often white geese or ducks are commonly the result of breeding with domestics that have gone wild.
From the looks of the pic, I see domestic in the bloodline there.
The light legs, the girth of the bird, say domestic to me.
Many domestic geese are white and/or white with color.

As for lore, I dont know anything off hand. Sorry.

[forestrangergrrl]

i don't know any lore, but it's certainly interesting! sometimes the genes go that way, think white tigers and such. they aren't true albinoes but they aren't the norm either. usually they have a much harder time surviving in the wild due to lack of natural camouflage. have fun watching it!

[Lolair]

I've also seen a white/pale grey canada goose at a local park, it was very cool, but again it didn't look like an albino. I looked it up and there are so many different species of Canada and cackling geese (http://www.sibleyguides.com/canada_cackling.htm) that it could be any one of those instead of a fluke. I found one species called Branta Canadiensis (http://www.camacdonald.com/birding/Canadagoosesubspecies.html):

Although not technically a subspecies - the bird in the background of this photo is an interesting leucistic form of Canada Goose. Leucistic forms replace black with grey in some or all of the feathering. At this point, I have no idea what subspecies it is, but it was photographed on Vancouver Island. There is a hint of the broad line under the jaw (grey in this case rather than black), so it may be a Taverner's form.