Anser cygnoides
Status: No accepted records.
Taxonomy: No subspecies recognized (Gill et al 2022).
The vast majority of Swan Goose reports for North America are designated “Swan Goose (Domestic type)”, usually referred to as “Chinese Goose”. These geese have been developed through selective breeding in eastern Asia from wild Swan Geese (Wikipedia) and are often found in parks. Many “park geese” are crosses of domestic Graylag Geese and domestic Chinese Geese. Most crosses that include Chinese Goose possess a knob at the base of the upper mandible, whereas wild Swan Geese do not.
Domestic geese often breed with wild populations of the same species, Graylag or Swan Geese. For information on such intergrades/hybrids see the links below.
Comments: The few records are certainly of escaped or released birds, as there is no pattern of vagrancy of wild individuals of this declining species into North America from the Asian range (Wright 1985, Madge and Burn 1988).
Five were taken by hunters on 8 Dec 1984 in Keith Co (Cortelyou 1985), and another individual was at Funk WPA, Phelps Co, 4 Apr 1999. There are several reports of birds seen in parks since, including 12 Jan 2012 Westport Apartments, Douglas Co, one at Crystal Springs Park, Jefferson Co 18 Oct 2018, singles at Charlie’s on the Lake, Douglas Co 13 Mar-16 May 2021, 24 Aug 2022, 3 Jan 2023, 17-19 Apr 2024, and 15 Dec 2024, one at Heartland of America Park, Douglas Co 18 Apr 2024 and four there 24 Feb 2025, at Ta-Ha-Zouka Park, Madison Co 24 Apr 2021, two at Schramm SP, Sarpy Co 26 May 2021, two at Gene Leahy Mall, Douglas Co 20 Jul 2024, and one at North Park, Phelps Co 1-7 Jan and 27 Jul-3 Aug 2024. One was in Johnson Co 3 Dec 2024 (Theresa Pella). One at Valentine 25 Aug was the survivor of a small group in the area (James Ducey). A male at Kramper Lake, Dakota Co summer-17 Nov was the survivor of an apparently flightless “dumped pair” (Bill Huser, personal communication).
Individuals of this species are also commonly kept in captivity (Wright 1985), and hybrids with domestic Graylag Goose and such hybrids with Canada Goose are often seen in park settings; see [Swan x Graylag Goose] (hybrid) – Birds of Nebraska – Online (outdoornebraska.gov) and [Swan/Graylag Goose (domestic type)] x Canada Goose (hybrid) – Birds of Nebraska – Online (outdoornebraska.gov).
Images
Abbreviations
SP: State Park
WPA: Waterfowl Production Area (Federal)
Literature Cited
Cortelyou, R.G. 1985. Three Species of Siberian geese seen in Nebraska (Editor’s comments). NBR 53: 3-5.
Gill, F., D. Donsker, and P. Rasmussen (Eds). 2022. IOC World Bird List (v 12.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.12.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
Madge, S., and H. Burn. 1988. Waterfowl; an identification guide to the ducks, geese, and swans of the world. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Wright, R. 1985. Re Swan Geese in Keith County. NBR 53: 67-68.
Recommended Citation
Silcock, W.R., and J.G. Jorgensen. 2025. Swan Goose (Anser sygnoides). In Birds of Nebraska — Online. www.BirdsofNebraska.org
Birds of Nebraska – Online
Updated 1 Mar 2025