Is it Canada or Cackling? Well…

Author: August Mirabella

Image Credit: Carolina Frazer (from eBird) & Andrew Harrington

All,

With all the new birders and eBird users, one of the eBird reviewers most difficult entries to evaluate are Cackling Goose. Even photos can be tough to evaluate. Some reviewers might say they are here, so just accept them all, but I believe it is one of the most misidentified species.  

There are four subspecies of Cackling (formerly all lumped with Canada) and seven species of Canada. As far as I know the only Cackling Goose that we should have here is Richardson's B. h. hutchinsii in small numbers since they winter normally west of here down to the Gulf of Mexico.  In the large flocks we get there are many smaller birds that are smaller Canada Geese. I guess we are lucky the folks who get paid to lump and split species didn't add to the difficulty by creating three species, adding the Lesser Canada Goose.  Also, there are hybrids & Dave Sibley has written about Cacklingish Geese that can be mistaken for Cackling.  

In one of his articles he points out that based on his research so far, the white neck ring which is often mentioned in eBird entries for Cackling is not definitive & can be seen randomly in all subspecies.  It is only typical in the Aleutian subspecies.  Another detail often provided is the breast is darker, but the Richardson's generally is an overall palier bird, with more obvious white edges to the upper back feathers.  If a bird is seen that matches one of the other subspecies with dark breast, it should be well documented. With all the waterfowl in captivity, there is a possibility I guess of an escape or release of a subspeces that should not be here. 

One of Sibley's blog articles on the differences in the 11 subspecies including bar charts showing the significant size variation and scroll down to a map showing the range of each subspecies and migration route is at:

https://sibleyguides.com/identification-of-cackling-and-canada-goose/

His Cacklingish article is:

https://sibleyguides.com/cackling-ish-geese/

There is much more online if you search.

I have attached a photo of a Richardson's Cackling at Peace Valley a few years ago that I wish all photos submitted with eBird entries looked like. I also wish all entries had photos.