I would wonder if it is an “escapee” (escaper). From where? Strange of it to find its own way to Lake Ginniderra. I would suggest more likely a releasee. (One
that has been released). A goose can be a daunting pet and I suggest that a person might like to be rid of it, rather than it escape. As for the origins, it is of a long domestic species, derived from Greylag Goose but I suggest in the Australian context,
generally not deserving of the same name as the wild species (any more than a dog is a wolf).
Philip
From: Geoffrey Dabb [
Sent: Monday, 2 April, 2018 10:27 AM To:
Subject: FW: [canberrabirds] ID please: One goose at Lake Ginniderra this afternoon
David Reid-Henry(‘The History of the Birds of Britain’) does indeed say they were present in the warmer periods of the Pleistocene from the Cromerian Interglacial
onwards. However the last wild breeding bird in England disappeared in 1831. Remnant populations on Scottish islands persisted, but feral populations (if they can be called that), from kept flocks, are said to be distinctly more tameish and to form the major
part of the present breeding population.
From: David Rees [
Sent: Monday, 2 April 2018 9:36 AM
To: Lindell Emerton Cc: Alison; <>
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] ID please: One goose at Lake Ginniderra this afternoon
Agree with the ID. Don't know where you got the 'Introduced to Britain' from. Native bird there and legally described as such.
On Thu, Mar 29, 2018 at 10:34 PM, Lindell Emerton <> wrote:
Alison,
Looks like a Greylag Goose to me. Introduced into Britain but a native of Europe and Northern Asia. A local escapee no doubt.
Lindell
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