Anser rossii x Branta hutchinsii
Status: Rare regular winter visitor west and west central, rare casual east central and east.
Records: There are 21 records from 29 Oct-7 Apr, most from Scotts Bluff Co. Elsewhere records are for Dundy (2), Red Willow, Dawson, Buffalo, and Douglas Cos.
According to eBird.org (accessed Dec 2024) there are numerous records for North America, almost all concentrated on the central Great Plains, from Wyoming and South Dakota south to northern Texas.
Comments: Discussion of this hybrid and photographs can be accessed at Bird Hybrids: Ross’s Goose x Cackling Goose.
Steven Mlodinow points out that in general Snow Goose X Cackling Goose hybrids are larger than Snow Geese and Ross’s Goose x Cackling Goose hybrids are smaller, probably because such hybrids are generally between Snow Goose and smaller races of Canada Goose.
Cackling Goose hybrids seem most prevalent from eastern Colorado east into central Nebraska and south to the Texas Panhandle, the main wintering area for Cackling Geese (Mlodinow et al 2024). In eastern Colorado, a flock of 10,000 Cackling Goose during winter will typically contain 5–20 Snow Goose x Cackling Goose or Ross’s Goose x Cackling Goose hybrids, with the ratio between the two roughly estimated at 3:1 to 5:1 (Mlodinow et al 2024).
A prudent way to report the group of hybrids, Ross’s or Snow as one parent and Cackling or Canada the other, is ROGO/SNGO x CANG/CACG. Such reports are often of birds too distant to identify; there are three records for Nebraska, four at Lake Minatare, Scotts Bluff Co 30 Nov 2020, and singles at Scottsbluff WTP, Scotts Bluff Co 13 Dec 2021, and at Barnett Park, Red Willow Co 28 Dec 2021 (eBird.org accessed Dec 2024).
Literature Cited
Mlodinow, S.G., P. Pyle, T.B. Mowbray, C.R. Ely, J.S. Sedinger, R.E. Trost, K.A. Spragens, and M.A. Patten. 2024. Cackling Goose (Branta hutchinsii), version 2.0. In Birds of the World (N. D. Sly, P. G. Rodewald, and B. K. Keeney, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.cacgoo1.02.
Images
Recommended Citation
Silcock, W.R., and J.G. Jorgensen. 2026. Ross’s x Cackling Goose (hybrid) (Anser rossii x Branta hutchinsii). In Birds of Nebraska — Online. www.BirdsofNebraska.org
Updated 20 Jul 2026