Heres some
information about the different subspecies of Canada and Cackling Geese
and how you can tell the apart
Articles on the Subject
Mark Stackhouse's Article
Article
from montereybay.com
Article
from Ontario, Canada
Ryan O'Donnell suggests Reading a 2008 article
by Mlodinow on Cackling Goose identification in North American Birds
Subspecies Breakdown:
(see details on each
subspecies)
Canada Goose Brant canadensis
Subspecies: B. c.
canadensis, B. c. interior, B. c. maxima, B. c. moffitti, B. c. parvipes,
B. c. occidentalis, B. c. fulva
Cackling Goose Branta hutchinsii
Subspecies:
B. h. hutchinsii, B. h. taverneri, B. h. minima,
B. h. leucopareia
Photos
by Bryant Olsen at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City and
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9 Feb 2010 - Bryant Olsen: Yet another small goose I saw in Liberty
Park,SLC, mixed in with the Canada Geese. I think it is a different
individual from the one I saw last week because it lacked the partial white
collar at the base of the neck, and seemed smaller too. I heard it "honk",
and it had a high pitched,week voice. I am thinking this one is a
Richardson's Cackling Goose(Branta hutchinsii ssp.hutchinsii), based on the
pale breast. I have been driving my self mad trying to figure out how to
differentiate the different subspecies of the "White Cheeked" Geese. |
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(hutchinsii As above) |
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As above |
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Relocated hutchinsii
Video with sound of voice |
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As above |
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As above |
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Ryan O'Donnell: (email 10 Feb 2010) Regarding your
bird from 9 Feb 2010 (three pictures above) I agree with you that this is a
Richardson's Cackling Goose, B. h. hutchinsii, for the same reasons as in my
last email regarding the 3 Feb bird.
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Maxima |
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? Taverneri / Moffitti ? 7 Feb 2009 - Bryant Olsen: A rather
strange Canada Goose with a dark breast. I wonder if it may be a Cackling
Goose(Branta hutchinsii ssp. taverneri), or just a abnormal Great Basin (Branta
canadensis ssp, moffitti) with a dark breast.
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Ryan O'Donnell: (email 10 Feb 2010) I believe what you have
here in the main photo is a Taverner's Cackling Goose (B. h. taverneri) at
far right, and two other Cackling Geese, probably Richardson's Cackling
Geese (B. h. hutchinsii) in the middle, based on their relatively pale
breasts and short bills. Their heads don't look as blocky as I'd expect for
B. h. hutchinsii, but that can vary based on posture. Taverner's do
occassionally have pale breasts, and I'm not 100% sure that we can be
certain these aren't also taverneri, but they are certainly Cacklers of some
kind and my money is on Richardson's. The left-most bird is a little
trickier and I'm not 100% confident calling it based on this shot, but I
feel about 80% sure that it is a Lesser Canada Goose, B. canadensis parvipes.
Notice especially the curved culmen (top of the bill) and longer bill
relative to the goose next to it. Its body also looks slightly larger,
although not obviously so in this shot
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? Taverneri / Moffitti ? Bryant Olsen: A rather strange Canada
Goose with a dark breast. I wonder if it may be a Cackling Goose(Branta
hutchinsii ssp. taverneri)or just a abnormal Great Basin (Branta canadensis
ssp, moffitti) with a dark breast.
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Ryan O'Donnell: (email 10 Feb 2010) ...The
second shot here, the first one in the comments, is a little trickier
because the birds are looking a little more towards us - we don't have as
good of a profile shot of the bills. To me, this looks like parvipes at
left, hutchinsii in the middle, and taverneri at right. The left-most bird
may instead be a second hutchinsii - I just don't trust the angle of the
head in this shot.
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? Taverneri / Moffitti ? Bryant Olsen: A rather strange Canada
Goose with a dark breast. I wonder if it may be a Cackling Goose(Branta
hutchinsii ssp. taverneri)or just a abnormal Great Basin (Branta canadensis
ssp, moffitti) with a dark breast.
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Ryan O'Donnell: (email 10 Feb 2010) ...The
third shot, the second one in the comments, looks like we are back to two
Richardson's at left and one Taverneri's at right.
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Bryant Olsen: This small goose made think it was a Cackling Goose,
but I now think it is just a Lesser Canada Goose(Branta canadensis
ssp.parvipes) (Bryant - email 9 Feb 2010)
...And sure enough today in Liberty Park I saw another smallish goose. I
think it is a different individual than the one I saw last week, since it
lacked the partial white collar on the base of the neck, and seemed smaller.
I even heard it "honk", and it had a high pitched,week voice. Here are some
photos for anyone willing to take pitty on me and offer an opinion. |
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As above |
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As above |
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(Email: 10 Feb 2010 - About the three pictures above - K, L and M)
Ryan P. O'Donnell: I just got to look at the photo
you posted a few days ago (link
) and I think that it is indeed a Cackling Goose. I think it is obvious that
it is not a leucopareia or a minima because it is too pale on the breast.
The trick then becomes separating parvipes from hutchinsii/taverneri. In my
opinion, the blocky, angular head; short neck; short head (from bill to
nape); short bill; straight culmen; acute angle from the culmen to the
forehead; and the slight indent in the white cheek patch behind the eye all
point solidly towards a hutchinsii Cackling Goose. Parvipes are smaller than
our breeding Canadas (moffitti), but they still have a longer bill, longer
neck, and longer head than your bird. Taverneri typically have a more
rounded (less angular, but still short) head and a darker breast, although
there is variation in this and some birds I've seen in Utah have seemed
intermediate between taverneri and hutchinsii. Most of the birds I've seen
in Utah have been the subspecies you photographed, hutchinsii, although
there are records of all four subspecies of Cackling Goose in the state.
I think your bird looks much like
this one
that I photographed a little over a year ago: Note that in photo
A you can see the hutchinsii Cackling Goose at center, several parvipes
Canada Geese behind it to the right, and a probable moffitti Canada Goose
with its body straight behind the Cackling Goose's head.. Photo B shows a
side-by-side comparison of parvpipes and hutchinsii geese. Note that the
neck is outstretched on your bird so that it looks longer than that of the
bird in my photographs, but both birds have short necks when the posture of
the bird is considered. Finally, you highlighted a faint neck collar on your
bird. A bold neck collar would be a strong indicator of a leucopariea
Cackling Goose, but a faint neck collar like this could show up on just
about any other subspecies of Cackling or Canada Goose, and therefore
doesn't help us much in our identification.
The comments on your flickr page by bp250 mention that the pale breast
eliminates Cackling Goose from consideration. I noticed that bp250 is from
California, where most Cackling Geese are the dark-breasted minima or
leucopareia subspecies. I suspect this is where the erroneous impression
that Cackling Geese have dark breasts comes from. Indeed, the breast of
hutchinsii is usually paler than that of parvipes. The tone of the breast is
very helpful in determining the SUBspecies, but is useless on its own for
determining the SPECIES, because Canadas range from very dark (e.g.
occidentalis) to very pale (e.g. maxima) and Cacklers also range from very
dark (e.g. minima) to very pale (e.g. hutchinsii).
Summary by Ryan O'Donnell on 10 Feb 2010:
...One of the things that gave me pause when I first dove
into the Cackling/Canada problem about two years ago in Cache County was
that I kept finding more Cackler's than I expected to. They were not common,
but they were easily the most common of the review list species I had seen.
I felt that I could usually find a Cackling Goose or two in most large
flocks of Canadas. In a way expecting them to be rare was good, because it
made me double-check my identifications and pay closer attention to
subspecies. In the end, I came away with the conclusion that I think you are
coming to now, Bryant: Cackling Geese are rare but regular in Utah in
winter. I encourage others to get involved in these identification
discussions and to check your local flocks of White-cheecked Geese. Many
questions remain to be answered. In what frequency do the various subspecies
of Cackling Geese occur in winter? When in the year do they arrive and when
do they leave? What is the ratio of Lesser Canada Geese to Great Basin
Canada Geese in winter? Are there differences around the state in the
frequencies of Cackling Geese? Sometimes I feel that there are not a lot of
mysteries left in birding. But the Cackling/Canada question leaves many for
us to solve.
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Photos by
Bryant Olsen
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