Welcome to The Long Necks!

Welcome to The Long Necks, the home of strange and unusual geese and swans.

Geese and swans can often take an appearance not found in any field guide and be a cause for confusion. This may be because you are looking at a hybrid, domestic, or aberrant waterfowl. If so, this project is for you! The Long Necks project aims to help bring these muddled geese and swans to the eyes of iNaturalists across the globe and can serve as jumping-off point for those who are interested. Resources for the identification of such birds are provided in this journal entry. Here's what's included in the project:

Hybrids
Hybrids are described as the offspring of two distinct forms; i.e. species. There are hundreds of hybrid observations iNaturalist alone. A great resource for understanding them is the Bird Hybrids blog, which catalogs a whole host of hybrid varieties with tips on their identification. Photos and illustrations are included too. I've been using it for a while now and have found it very helpful! The blog is linked below:
http://birdhybrids.blogspot.com/

Domestics
Through thousands of years of selective breeding, peoples across the world have been changing animals to fill a niche. Domestic animals can appear and behave very differently from their wild ancestors. This project includes domestic geese like the Greylag and Swan Goose. These geese come in a variety of breeds ranging in size, colour, and function, from the light and elegant Chinese Goose to the massive Giant Dewlap Goose, goose breeds can be quite unique and fascinating. It should also be noted that both species regularly hybridize with each other and other species, with breeds such as the Steinbacher descending from a mixed ancestry. In terms of identification for iNaturalist, those interested in domestic geese could benefit from the Bird Hybrids blog too. Useful resources are link below:
https://amerpoultryassn.com/?s=geese
https://www.waterfowl.org.uk/domestic-waterfowl/domestic-geese/
https://www.poultryclub.org/breeds/geese/
https://poultrykeeper.com/goose-breeds/

Aberrants
Lastly, there are aberrants. For this project, the term will apply to geese and swans with colour mutations such as albinism, melanism, and others. On, iNaturalist at least, most goose aberrents appear with either patches of white feathers or a completely white plumage. Again, aberrents can look similar to hybrids, so check out the Bird Hybrids blog to help tell the two apart. Many colour mutations exist in birds, to learn about the terminology, read from some of the linked sites:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235998351_Aberrations_in_plumage_coloration_in_birds
https://academy.allaboutbirds.org/plumage-variations/
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/what-can-cause-birds-to-show-weird-color-variations-such-as-being-all-or-partly-white-or-unusually-dark/

Photo Credits
The icon and banner for The Long Necks were made using images provided by users on iNaturalist. With much appreciation, they are credited below. Thank you all!

Project icon:

@kakariki14. “Domestic Greylag Goose”, January 2, 2022.
https://inaturalist.ca/observations/104175604

Project banner from left to right:

@naturephotosuze. “Brant”, July 25, 2010.
https://inaturalist.ca/observations/61961030

@elkvorr. “Domestic Greylag × Domestic Swan Goose”, February 4, 2022.
https://inaturalist.ca/observations/106127770

@Momo. “Swoose” (Greylag Goose x Mute Swan), December 2014.
https://www.birdforum.net/gallery/swoose.515530/

@christa_explores. “Greylag × Canada Goose”, April 3, 2021.
https://inaturalist.ca/observations/72973563

@mikaelnyman. “Canada × Barnacle Goose”, August 4, 2021.
https://inaturalist.ca/observations/90024913

(Domestic Greylag Goose and domestic Swan Goose sourced from stock image sites)

To everyone who has read up to this point, I hope you enjoy the project!

• That Bug Guy

Posted on August 2, 2022 10:54 PM by that_bug_guy