I as well have seen the Barnacle x Canada hybrid. It was reported about 4 years
ago from Ridgefield NWR. The lone adult had two hybrid young in tow with a good
size flock of Cacklers. It was a complete ice over in February (I think) the
day after the report and the gate was closed. I hiked in and just as I entered
the parking area a park employee confronted me. Luckily they were obliging
enough to give me a quick ride and we found the Geese immediately.
Unfortunately the cheap point and shoot i had taken pictures with got ruined by
a water bottle in my backpack on a later hike. I counted the adult as a life
sighting due to the fact it had young and were hypothetically pushed down from
the north by the cold snaps.
Sent from my iPhone
On Sep 10, 2015, at 8:02 PM, Joel Geier <joel.geier@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
If wild/feral Barnacle Geese do make it into the wilds of the Pacific
Northwest, regardless of origins they could establish a "naturalized"
population very quickly. There is evidence of this in the southern Baltic
region, where a pair on an islet off the Swedish island of Gotland in 1971
quickly mushroomed into what has become a nuisance in city parks in Helsinki
and Stockholm.
I've even seen Barnacle x Canada hybrids swimming on the Fyris River in
Uppsala. Imagine the interbreeding possibilities, with Cackling Geese also
available here!
Good birding,
Joel
--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis
