Goose, Greylag

The greylag is the largest and bulkiest of the grey geese of the genus Anser. It has a rotund, bulky body, a thick and long neck, and a large head and bill. It has pink legs and feet, and an orange or pink bill with a white or brown nail (hard horny material at tip of upper mandible). It is 74 to 91 centimetres long with a wing length of 41.2 to 48 centimetres. The plumage of the greylag goose is greyish-brown, with a darker head and paler breast and belly with a variable amount of black spotting. It has a pale grey fore-wing and rump which are noticeable when the bird is in flight or stretches its wings on the ground. It has a white line bordering its upper flanks, and its wing coverts are light-coloured, contrasting with its darker flight feathers. Its plumage is patterned by the pale fringes of the feathers. Juveniles differ mostly in their lack of black-speckling on the breast and belly and by their greyish legs.