Egyptian Goose: Dusted with Snow

Better in large ("L"). (You can see the shape of me crouching next to my standing mother in the reflection in the black tip of its beak!)

This is the most bossy Egyptian goose on Mount Pond; there are lots of Egyptian geese there (25 was the highest count), but this one is definitely the most assertive. Notice the lack of eye patches: this seems to be a fairly common phenomenon in Egyptian geese and is either a colour polymorphism (a pale variant) or a form of leucism. Either way, it is common: the female of the pair on Wandsworth Common has similar colouration (as seen here) and I've seen several others, so I'd estimate it as at least 1 in 25. Their beaks are also less marked/speckled than those with normal colouration.

This is a particularly assertive/greedy specimen though: my mother was feeding the geese, and this one will always push to the front and nip at the others to maintain the dominant position. It is also pretty fearless, and will approach nearer than any of the others: I touched it today as it was eating from my mother's hand, and it seemed totally unfazed.

In any case, it isn't impolite, and its character still seems very endearing! It was looking particularly pretty dusted with snow this afternoon... It was snowing throughout our visit, and much more snow has settled on the ground (although still not enough to make driving carefully any trouble, and still not enough to warrant any kind of ridiculous behaviour, in my opinion...); I've also uploaded a photograph of a black-headed gull on the wing in the snow which was more atmospheric and shows the context of my blip.