Tweeters:
Several people have written lately about the subspecies of Canada Goose
(Branta canadensis). We're seeing a lot of them flying overhead in the
morning & evenings right now down in the Kent valley. Kelly McAllister
wrote a very good message to Tweeters
about them (see below). She quotes a small WA State Fish & Wildlife guide
book, that says we have 6 subspecies in Washington. But even she said she
has trouble telling Lesser and Taverner's Goose apart.
A good website that discusses these two subspecies is from Alaska Dept. Fish
& Game. It's at
www.state.ak.us/local/akpages/FISH.GAME/notebook/bird/canada.htm
Another very good site was recently posted by Mike Patterson. It's at
http.//home.pacifier.com/~mpatters/bird/cago.html It uses info from WA &
OR Dept Fish & Wildlife which is given to goose hunters. It uses common
names for the subspecies & points out differences between Lesser &
Taverner's. It's a great chart.
For those of us who would like the Latin names: Vancouver is
B.c.fulva. Dusky is B.c.occidentalis. Lesser is B.c.parvipes. Taverner's
is B.c.taverneri. Aleutian is B.c.leucopareia. Cackler is B.c.minima. I
have no idea what the Latin name for Western is. Western is not the same as
Vancouver which they have up north. And in Sibley's book, he just calls
them Common. ???
Hope these two websites help.
Yours, Carol Schulz
-----Original Message-----
From: RTShaw80 at aol.com <RTShaw80 at aol.com>
Also, any good references to
>ID Taverner's Canada Goose?
----------------
>From Kelly McAllister Oct 27, 2000
Well, Washington State Fish and Wildlife has a small guide booklet (black
and white illustrations)
that does a pretty good job showing the features that differentiate the 6
subspecies that are
found in Washington. I don't have one here at home but the geese you saw
were undoubtedly
Cackling Canada Geese, which are small and usually dark.
Our largest Canada Goose subspecies are the Western (=Great Basin) Canada
Goose (the resident
breeders that have become so abundant around many of our cities and the
Dusky Canada Goose, a
large dark goose the migrates to Washington in Fall (from the Copper River
delta in Alaska).

The Lesser Canada Goose is a medium-sized, generally light under-bellied
goose fairly similar to one
of our other common migrant subspecies, the Taverner's Canada Goose. I am
still inexperienced with
telling these subspecies apart.

The small Aleutian Canada Goose is rarely seen in Washington but they are
seen periodically, particulary
around the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge. It is generally lighter than
the Cackler and often has
a white ring that goes all of the way around the base of the neck. This
subspecies apparently averages
smaller than the Cackler.

Kelly McAllister
Olympia, Washington