Cackling Goose

Cackling Goose

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1. Description
2. Sound
3. Conservation Status
4. Other Names
5. Cool Facts
6. Full detailed species account

The newly recognized Cackling Goose is a smaller version of the Canada Goose. Formerly considered the smallest subspecies of one variable species, recent work on genetic differences found the four smallest forms to be very different. These four races are now recognized as a full species: the Cackling Goose. It breeds farther northward and westward than does the Canada Goose.

Description

• Medium-sized to small goose.
• Black head.
• Bill small and triangular.
• Long, black neck.
• White chinstrap.
• Light tan to brown breast feathers.
• Brownish back.
• White undertail.

• Size: 55-75 cm (22-30 in)
• Weight: 950-3000 g (33.54-105.9 ounces)

Sex Differences

Sexes look alike, male slightly larger.

Sound

Noisy. Call a loud honking or a high-pitched, squeaking cackle.

Conservation Status

Aleutian Cackling Goose was protected under the original Endangered Species Act in 1973, but was removed from the list in 2001. Other forms increasing, but still below long-term averages.

Other Names

Bernache de Hutchins (French)
Canada Goose (in part) (English)

Cool Facts

• The Cackling Goose was long considered just a small race of the Canada Goose. The smallest four of the eleven recognized races were recently determined to be distinct enough to be their own species. Cackling Goose includes the races known as Taverner's, Richardson's, Aleutian, and Cackling geese. Confusingly, the "Lesser Canada Goose" is still a race of the Canada Goose.
• Although most Cackling Geese nest along ponds and streams in the tundra, the Aleutian form nests on south-facing turf slopes above rocky, cliff-bound shorelines. The Richardson's form can nest in colonies of several hundred pairs on cliffs and steep rock slopes.

• The smallest form of the Cackling Goose is only a quarter the size of the "Giant Canada Goose" subspecies.

Sources used to construct this page:

1. Banks, R. C., et al. 2004. Forty-fifth supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. Auk 121: 985-995.
2. Mowbray, T. B., C. R. Ely, J. S. Sedinger, and R. E. Trost. 2002. Canada Goose (Branta canadensis). In The Birds of North America, No.682 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.