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Ryan Schuster, a senior at Red River High School, shot what appears to be a Canada goose with albino characteristics, Sept. 23 near Drayton, N.D. “I know this bird gave us an early look at our decoys,” Ryan’s dad, Tom (background), writes. “He came back later in the morning for a closer look and Ryan made a nice shot.” He said the goose is being mounted. Mike Johnson a migratory bird biologist for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department in Bismarck, said he receives several inquiries about geese with similar appearances. “The bird in the photo is not a true or complete albino, because it has some black feathers and some coloration,” Johnson writes. “Albinism is genetic mutation that suppresses all color pigments in feathers, and soft body parts. True albinos have pink eyes. If it is a Canada-type bird, which I can’t tell from the photo, it is most likely a hybrid with a domestic goose.” Continue Reading