A hybrid?

OntarioHunter

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Sep 11, 2020
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Shot this honker yesterday. Very odd feather pattern on underside of wings. I have never seen that kind of white freckling before. And only on underside of wings. I'm wondering if it might be a hybrid?20211007_015723.jpg
 
Usually those ones are “quill” candadas. Lots of them they have white that goes under their wings and across their chest
811EAEC5-14B8-4D68-9C7C-F8527B7F9C70.jpeg
With this one uou can see white down his neck, wings tips and large white patch. That one has a much bigger “white patch” on his chest then usual. Usually it’s a small strip
 
This is apparently a recessive gene that has been observed in all flyaways. It's more common in the Quill Lake Refuge area because the gene has reoccured with greater frequency there due to a localized gene pool. In all my years of hunting and having shot well over a thousand honkers I'm sure, this is the first time I've seen it. Thanks for clearing it up. Incidentally, back in 1986 I did see a Canada-domestic goose hybrid when I was teaching school near Billings. Several of us were trying to get that bird. It was a weird looking thing and half again bigger than the "normal" honkers it was hanging with. One morning when I headed out the door to school it was in the flock in the hay field right in front of my house. Made a helluva strange noise too.
 
Second the quill lake gene. Have shot a handful of them over the years. Very unique birds. Have had them with completely white wings, pink feet, pink beaks, even a couple that were 85 percent white. Their trademark is the full white belly or a white band across the belly.
 
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