Anser caerulescens x Branta hutchinsii
Status: Uncommon regular winter visitor west and west central; rare casual elsewhere.
Records: There are about 51 records, 31 Oct-28 Mar, most in the Panhandle and east to Keith and Lincoln Cos (eBird.org, accessed Mar 2025). Most are associated with Cackling Geese.
Reports in the east central and east are fewer: 23 Nov 2021 Platte Co, 28 Dec 2021 Red Willow Co, 29 Dec 2021 Adams Co, and 27 Feb 2022 Douglas Co. Different singles (by photographs) were at each of two Buffalo Co locations 3 Dec 2023 and 2 Feb 2024.
One at Scottsbluff WTP, Scotts Bluff Co 23 Mar-23 Jun 2023 may have been the same bird there 31 Oct and 17 Nov 2023.
Best count is four, in Scotts Bluff Co 30 Nov 2020.
Comments: There are at least 100 records in eBird (accessed Mar 2024), concentrated on the Great Plains between Nebraska and northern Texas in winter.
There is discussion and several photographs of this hybrid at Bird Hybrids: Snow Goose x Cackling Goose. This is a naturally occurring hybrid that can be extremely difficult to tell apart from Snow Goose x Canada Goose hybrids, or indeed Ross’s Goose x Canada/Cackling Goose hybrids (Bird Hybrids: Snow Goose x Cackling Goose).
Steven Mlodinow points out that in general Snow Goose X Canada Goose hybrids are larger than Snow Geese, although it should be noted that such hybrids are generally between Snow Goose and smaller races of Canada Goose.
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).
Images
Recommended Citation
Silcock, W.R., and J.G. Jorgensen. 2025. Snow x Cackling Goose (hybrid) (Anser caerulescens x Branta hutchinsii). In Birds of Nebraska — Online. www.BirdsofNebraska.org
Birds of Nebraska – Online
last updated 21 Mar 2025