Canada geese query, Canada (1 Viewer)

Tiraya · Feb 17, 2015

All about the geese today.

I've attached some photographs of local odd geese I caught while watching Canada geese migration in Edmonton a while back. I only have one confirmed Cackling record so far, so far these are listed as "probable parvipes".

The bird in image 4 is the right-hand bird of the two left birds in image 5. (image 5's focus is a known cackling goose of unknown ssp.--sorry I haven't done my subspecies homework).

cassowary · Feb 18, 2015

Silverwolf, Hi

seeing as nobody has responded to you yet I'll give it a go: I think the bird in image 4 is a Taverner’s cackling goose - it's an ssp I've rarely seen. I think it's Richardson’s Cackling Goose in picture 5 (the one on its own).

My main reference for identifying this group of geese is this sibley guide:
http://www.sibleyguides.com/2007/07/identification-of-cackling-and-canada-goose/

Tiraya · Feb 18, 2015

cassowary said:
Silverwolf, Hi

seeing as nobody has responded to you yet I'll give it a go: I think the bird in image 4 is a Taverner’s cackling goose - it's an ssp I've rarely seen. I think it's Richardson’s Cackling Goose in picture 5.

My sole reference for identifying this group of geese is this sibley guide:
http://www.sibleyguides.com/2007/07/identification-of-cackling-and-canada-goose/

Appreciate the comments! It is a mystifying group indeed. I think Richardson's and Taverner's are the two expect species in Alberta (or the most likely anyway, but not much study has been done on ranges; when I found the bird in image 5 it was one of the first known Alberta records but before the split they were completely overlooked).

Tiraya · Feb 19, 2015

I think the important question here is ruling out parvipes Canada goose. It would help to determine what subspecies the larger Canada geese are to begin with; if all of them are parvipes then these selected birds are surely Cackling on size difference alone.

Canada geese query, Canada (1 Viewer)

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Tiraya

San Diego CA

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