James Lowther said:
Yeah, especially as parvipes, which is now a subsp. of 'greater canada' has traditionally been called 'lesser canada goose'!! I think there is maybe some questions about the use of cackling goose as a name for the smaller species as only one of the four subsp. actually cackles. Maybe they should run a competition to see if anyone can come up with a good non-confusing pair of new names? Then again, maybe not...
Take your pick from the list below - I orignally posted this on WestPal birds (the work was done by George Sangster) but I don't suppose anyone will mind if I put it here as well
***
The TSC's recommendations for English names will be discussed in a lengthy
review paper on Canada Goose taxonomy drafted by BOU-TSC (Sangster et al.
MS).
There are no less than 39 names available for the taxa (species and
subspecies)in the Canada goose complex (see below, modified from one of
the tables in the forthcoming BOU-TSC paper on Canada goose taxonomy). It
will be very difficult to find logical/informative names which have not
been used previousy for a different taxon.
The names proposed by Angus Wilson (which Dominic Mitchell included in his
message to WestPalBirds), i.e. Tundra Goose (for B. hutchinsii), Lesser
Canda Goose (for B. c. parvipes + B. h. taverneri), and Canada Goose (for
B.canadensis but excluding B. c. parvipes), would be no better than the
BOURC names since each of these names also have been used by previous
authors for one or more different taxa (see list).
1. Alaskan Cackling Goose B. h. minima (Aldrich 1946, Yocom 1951)
1. Aleutian Canada Goose B. h. leucopareia (Delacour 1954, Palmer 1976,
Johnsgard 1978)
2. Asiatic Cackling Goose B. h. asiatica (Aldrich 1946)
3. Athabaska Canada Goose B. c. parvipes (Aldrich 1946, Gabrielson &
Lincoln 1959)
4. Atlantic Canada Goose B. c. canadensis (Delacour 1954, Palmer 1976,
Johnsgard
1978)
5. Baffin Island [Richardson] Canada Goose B. h. hutchinsii (Johnsgard
1978)
6. Basin Canada Goose B. c. moffitti (Aldrich 1946)
7. Bering Canada Goose B. h. asiatica (Delacour 1954, Johnsgard 1978)
8. Cackling Canada Goose B. h. minima (Delacour 1954, Gabrielson &
Lincoln 1959,
Palmer 1976, Johnsgard 1978)
9. Cackling Goose B. h. minima (Bent 1925, Kortright 1943, Hellmayr &
Conover
1948); Cackling Goose B. hutchinsii (Banks et al. 2004)
10. Canada Goose B. c. canadensis (Bent 1925); Canada Goose B. canadensis
(Kortright 1943, Sibley 1996, Banks et al. 2004)
11. Common Canada Goose B. c. canadensis (Kortright 1943)
12. Dusky Canada Goose B. c. occidentalis (Delacour 1954, Palmer 1976,
Johnsgard
1978)
13. Eastern Canada Goose B. c. canadensis (Aldrich 1946, Hellmayr &
Conover 1948)
14. Giant Canada Goose B. c. maxima (Delacour 1954, Johnsgard 1978);
Giant
Canada Goose B. c. moffitti (Palmer 1976)
15. Great Basin Canada Goose B. c. moffitti (Hellmayr & Conover 1948,
Yocom 1951)
16. Greater Canada Goose B. canadensis (Sangster et al. 1999)
17. Hudson Bay Canada Goose B. c. interior (Johnsgard 1978)
18. Hutchins Cackling Goose B. h. hutchinsii (Aldrich 1946)
19. Hutchins Goose B. h. hutchinsii (Bent 1925)
20. Interior Canada Goose B. c. interior (Aldrich 1946, Palmer 1976)
21. Lesser Canada Goose B. c. parvipes (Hellmayr & Conover 1948,
Delacour 1954,
Palmer 1976, Johnsgard 1978); Lesser Canada Goose B. h. leucopareia
(Kortright
1943, Aldrich 1946, Gabrielson & Lincoln 1959); Lesser Canada Goose B.
hutchinsii (Sangster et al. 1999, BOURC 2005)
22. Little Cackling Goose B. h. minima (Ridgway 1885)
23. Moffitt [Great Basin] Canada Goose B. c. moffitti (Johnsgard 1978)
24. Moffitt's Canada Goose B. c. moffitti (Delacour 1954)
25. Pacific Canada Goose B. c. occidentalis (Aldrich 1946)
26. Queen Charlotte Canada Goose B. c. fulva (Gabrielson & Lincoln 1959)
27. Richardson's Canada Goose B. h. hutchinsii (Delacour 1954, Palmer
1976)
28. Richardson's Goose B. h. hutchinsii (Kortright 1943, Hellmayr &
Conover 1948)
29. Taverner [Alaska] Canada Goose B. h. taverneri (Johnsgard 1978)
30. Taverner's Canada Goose B. h. taverneri (Delacour 1954)
31. Todd's Canada Goose B. c. interior (Hellmayr & Conover 1948,
Delacour 1954)
32. Tundra Goose B. h. leucopareia (Bailey 1948, Hellmayr & Conover
1948);
Tundra Goose B. hutchinsii (Sibley 1996)
33. Vancouver Canada Goose B. c. fulva (Delacour 1954, Johnsgard 1978)
34. West Coast Goose B. c. occidentalis (Hellmayr & Conover 1948)
35. Western Canada Goose B. c. occidentalis (Kortright 1943)
36. White-cheeked (western) Canada Goose B. c. occidentalis (Gabrielson &
Lincoln 1959)
37. White-cheeked Canada Goose B. c. occidentalis (Yocom 1951)
38. White-cheeked Goose B. c. occidentalis (Bent 1925)