# Are white fronted geese rare in Ga?



## Hunter22 (Apr 14, 2011)

I was just curious if they were rare or not cause I saw one today in a pond where I have been fishing there for 11 years and never seen anything but cans and mallards. It made the cans look like teal compared to white fronted goose. She was huge with a really thick neck and obnoxious!


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## ngaduck (Apr 14, 2011)

Sounds more like a farm goose.


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## jerry russell (Apr 15, 2011)

Never seen a white fronted goose (specklebelly) in Georgia but I am sure it could happen pretty easy. Another bird that is often confused with the white front is the Greylag Goose.  While still not common you will see these domestic geese in farm ponds and they do hookup with flocks of Canadas and turn wild. We have seen several in Clayton, Fayette and Henry counties and they are all over Lanier. We have seen both purebred and Greylag/Canada crosses. These are some seriously huge geese. I had one of these living in my lake for 3 months and it was mean as heck. 

The small attached photo is a White Fronted goose (white beak patch) and the larger is the Greylag.


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## Hunter22 (Apr 15, 2011)

jerry russell said:


> Never seen a white fronted goose in Georgia but I am sure it could happen pretty easy. Another bird that is often confused with the white front is the Greylag Goose.  While still not common you will see these domestic geese in farm ponds and they do hookup with flocks of Canadas and turn wild. We have seen several in Clayton, Fayette and Henry counties and they are all over Lanier. We have seen both purebred and Greylag/Canada crosses. These are some seriously huge geese. I had one of these living in my lake for 3 months and it was mean as heck.
> 
> The small attached photo is a White Fronted goose (white beak patch) and the larger is the Greylag.



It was definately a white fronted goose then. It had that white patch right before the beak. It was loud as heck. When we first got to the lake we saw it about 400 yrds away and didnt know what the heck it was because it was so big then when we were fishin and got closer we saw it was a goose. It was chasing off some cans and whatever noise that thing makes is off the charts obnoxious but stuck right by the cans. When they moved it moved with them. Then all the sudden we saw 4 greenheads lite right among them too. (too bad theres houses around the pond)


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## across the river (Apr 15, 2011)

Hunter22 said:


> It was definately a white fronted goose then. It had that white patch right before the beak. It was loud as heck. When we first got to the lake we saw it about 400 yrds away and didnt know what the heck it was because it was so big then when we were fishin and got closer we saw it was a goose. It was chasing off some cans and whatever noise that thing makes is off the charts obnoxious but stuck right by the cans. When they moved it moved with them. Then all the sudden we saw 4 greenheads lite right among them too. (too bad theres houses around the pond)



Specklebelly geese aren't all that big.  They are usually in the 5 pound range.    If it was " huge" it most likely wasn't a speck.   Many times " mutt" domestic geese will get the white patch in front of the bill, so you can't use that as a distinguishing feature.  If it is bigger than a Canada goose, it isn't a specklebelly.  Next time look for the bars on the birds chest.   My guess is it doesn't have any.   The only one of the birds you mentioned that would actually nest in Georgia would be the tammie mallard, so I'm not sure why canvasbacks or a specklebelly goose would still be in Georgia in Mid-April.


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## Hunter22 (Apr 15, 2011)

Turns out it is a graylag. I got really close to it and it must have been the angle of the sun on it but I could have sworn I saw that white patch yesterday. We also saw 2 mallard hens and 6 drakes. One of the hens had 11 little ones with her. I always bring my mallard call to see if they will respond to me or not and 4 of the drakes were following our boat around for 30 minutes and had one come about 8 feet from the boat.


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## jerry russell (Apr 16, 2011)

Still, a neat bird to look at.  Larry Y. on here has killed several hybrid geese on the South side of Atlanta. He has one mounted that is HUGE and would dwarf any big Canada. Another one he shot has a black stripe down its entire neck, sort of like a goose mohawk.
We have a moster Greylag that runs with 12 Canadas on one of our goose fields. He is on the no kill list for us. You an hear him coming over all the other geese with his obnoxious nasal honking.

He also told me a story of several specks flying in on him while huntin canadas in Georgia. He said they were so freaked out that they missed chip shots at the birds- all on film.


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## southgabowhunter (Apr 16, 2011)

Killed one this year in Charlton county


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## across the river (Apr 16, 2011)

southgabowhunter said:


> Killed one this year in Charlton county



Well you have done something that not many Georgians have done, at least not in Georgia.  That is pretty neat.  Post a picture if you have one, I would like to see him (or her).


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## Hunter22 (Apr 17, 2011)

Gota picture of him on my phone yesterday while fishing. The smaller pic is of 2 mallards and a can just chillin on a dock. I thought it was pretty funny. I also saw a mallard resting in the middle of the pond with 5 others and then when they started to swim off he swam with his head still tucked in like he was sleep swimming. 

Also my nephew has cought one 9lb bass and one 10lb bass out of this pond (one this Thusday and one last Thursday)  Both times he thought he was hung on a tree haha.


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## Flaustin1 (Apr 17, 2011)

Definately not a speck


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## georgiaboy (Apr 18, 2011)

Those things messed me up to a couple of years ago. I knew it looked like a speck but wasn't a speck. 

Clent proceeded to drop some knowledge on me and it was a Greylag.  This one is a hog and consumes crackers and bread better than the white tamie things


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## 27metalman (Apr 21, 2011)

Guy down the road from me... more than a mile, has some Graylags.  The only thing louder is a peacock that's a little past them.


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