Confused Goose

I was down at my local bird sanctuary testing out my new Sigma 150-500 OS the other day, I took quite a few but it was over cast and the lens at full stretch won't do better than f6.3 so the hand held long shots turned out a little blurry even with OS. I couldn't see at the time but this bunch that flew round and round the sanctuary about 20 times before taking off in another direction had a goose with them, is this common practise for 2 different species to join together or is there a bit of an ugly duckling thing going on.

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So is this such a common occurrence that people think I must be an imbecile to be asking such a silly question or is it that people just don't know? It seemed pretty strange to me

Mick, I have no input on why a different goose joined these others, I have seen this behavior around my area in the past though. I am carious to your thoughts on that lens you just got. I have that lens myself and have been using it for a year now. It is restrictive being a f6.3 at 500mm but on brighter days it is not so bad. There is a 1.4x and 2.0x tc mated for this lens and I rented the 2.0 once I was impressed with the extra reach but then it is an f11and that is not always a good thing.
Would be greatful for your input. Happy shooting

I've found it seems to work better or should I say yields better results when it's on the 1d2n than it does on 5d, it's definitely soft at full stretch and the OS is a bit jerky 'till it settles down. I think the performance is a little behind the 100-400 in terms of IQ and IS but there again so is the price. Have you had a look at this lens in the sample photos section? https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=514846

Here's another couple to show it takes better shots than the 2 above.

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Mick thank you for that link. No I had not seen that before but like what others are/have been doing with this lens. I use it on my 50d and have enjoyed owning it. I recently bought a pre-owned Canon 70-200 f2.8 non IS for the same price I gave for the Sigma lens.With that I understand the IQ concerns but considering the price difference, I think the trade is acceptable. Of course they are not equal by no means and I still leave my 150-500 mounted on my 50d body and only swap out under closer conditions. To be exact I use the 70-200 almost exclusively when shooting remote work. It has proven itself very nice under these conditions.
Happy shooting

Your "goose" is most likely a White Pekin duck. They were bred with mallards and are very tame and often used as pets. Since he is the same size as the mallards and flying with them, it's doubtful he is a goose.

Thanks for the link Mitch, good to get an answer. Yeah! it looks like you're probably right; it's just that the shorter orange looking beak made it appear goose like.

It could also just be a White Mallard. There are such things.

Challenging shots and the beak isn't shorter. He's looking to the left.

I have a few other shots of the group (even worse than the first two if you can believe that) and the beak looks to be stumpier in them all,
I appreciate though that a shorter beak does not a goose make
Thanks for the replys.

Maybe he is a "duck-in-training"? He just has to earn his stripes
Thaks for sharing - it does look really different to have one white one in the midst of the group

I agree with Mitch. This is no goose but a duck and just as Mitch has explained. Snow Geese will often partner with Canadas but they have a black patch on the end of their wings so this is not a Snow. Domestic escapees will often partner with Mallards though. Good for you in getting this.

Park duck in deed. Not a goose.

Look closely at the second picture and you can see it has orange feet.