S. M. Garver - Wildlife Photos - Canada Geese photos page 2 of 8

There are several subspecies of Canada geese. The subspecies with white mark on its forehead is normally found west of the Rocky Mountains and is smaller than the Canada geese normally seen in Florida. This was the only one I saw with the mark and I dubbed him "White-Eyebrows". He and his mate and their five goslings visited the pond on a regular basis and loved the rice cakes I put on the other side of the fence for them. They could be in the water, but as soon as I would call, "White-Eyebrows" they would run up the hillside to the edge of the fence. All except the last photo are from 2014. I did not see him in 2015, but I did see a goose that might have been one of his offspring.

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Canada geese in Florida normally only have a white diagonal patch on the sides of their heads. This one had an additional white patch between its eyes.
[Front side head view of the goose with the white spot between its eyes visible.]

Here he is taking a snooze. All Canada geese have white eyelids.
[Profile view of the goose's head. The white patch is just above and to the left of its eye. Its closed eyelid is a white patch in the black.]

One of his five goslings seemed to have a yellower/lighter forehead.
[Front view of a gosling sitting in the grass. Although its tail feathers have started growing, the rest of its body is still furry. While its body seems to be brown, most of its head (including the part which would become black in adult geese) is light yellow.]

As this gosling and its siblings matured, the forehead remained a lighter hue.
[Three goslings on the other side of a chain-link fence. Two have dark heads while the third seems to be a light brown color.]

This spliced photo has White-Eyebrows on the left and Mrs. White-Eyebrows and the light-forehead gosling swimming behind her on the right.
[Front view of White-Eyebrows with the white patch between the eyes clearly visible. His mate has a completely black forehead. Right behind her is one gosling with what appears to be white patches mixed in with the brown on its forehead. Behind it is one of the siblings who has a completely dark forehead.]

Mrs. White-Eyebrows (lower left) and her five goslings. Even as their dark patches turn black, the one gosling appears it will have its father's mark.
[All six geese are swimming. One gosling appears to have white splotches on its forehead.]

A month later the light patch seems to be filling in.
(I left town the next day so I don't know the final result.)
[Front view of the gosling with a dark brown (not yet black) patch on its head and only the smallest of white spots between its eyes.]

In early December of 2015 I saw this goose in with a group of geese with completely black foreheads. After comparing markings I believe this is a different goose from the prior photo. However, it could be one of White-Eyebrows's offspring from a year other than 2014. There is some white near each eye on this bird (rather than all the way across). It's plucking an acorn from the leaves.
[The goose is bending to the ground in nearly the exact same pose as the prior photo. This is adult goose so it has full black on its head except for the 'saddle' area and for some white patches just above and in front of its eyes. It's picking up an acorn amid the leaves on the ground.]

During summer 2016, I saw a family of growing geese with multiple young ones with white patches even though both parents had completely dark foreheads. Apparently the gene(s) producing this coloration can skip generations. Here are several goslings from this family group.

Continue to page 3 to see more of White-Eyebrows' family as they grew.

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