Subject: Nisqually Canada Goose: Aleutian or Cackling??
Date: May 26 11:26:10 2002
From: Jon. Anderson and Marty Chaney - festuca at olywa.net


David Hayden wrote:
"I forgot to mention in yesterdays post, that there is also an Aleution
Canada Goose hanging out with the regular geese in the front willow
ponds. It is obviously smaller with a short stubby bill, and has a complete
white neck collar. This could be the same goose that came in
this past winter and stayed."
Dave Hayden
Lakewood, WA
dtvhm at nwrain.com
*************************************
Hi folks,

I've been looking at this same bird for a while now. I am wondering what
makes it an 'Aleutian' Canada goose, rather than a Cackling Canada?? In a
former life, I spent 6 seasons counting the Canada goose flocks (mostly
dusky, Taverner's, and Cacklers, with a smattering of 'westerns' and
lessers - a very few Aleutians and Vancouver's subspecies in the mix) in the
Willamette Valley & SW Washington, reading plastic neck collars, and running
the hunter check-stations. The Nisqually bird appeared to me to be a
hatch-year Cackling Canada goose.

Last Sunday, I viewed this bird at a range of about 20 feet.... My
observations of the bird was that, while it had a white 'collar', it had a
very short & stubby bill, a short neck, the breast feathering was relatively
darkish ash-gray, and that its body was barely larger than the Mallard drake
that was standing next to it.

The known Aleutian Canada geese that I've seen (known, because of
alpha-numeric leg bands) have had relatively longer necks (admittedly, a
subjective characteristic), but have all (adults and birds-of-the-year) had
significantly lighter breast feathering than the Cacklers... I've had more
difficulty differentiating birds-of-the-year Taverners from Aleutians, than
from Aleutians from Cacklers. The 'jizz' that I associate with Aleutians is
that they "stand taller on their hind legs" than do Cacklers, due to a
tarsal-metatarsal measurement that averages 20mm longer. While all of the
Aleutian Canadas that I've seen have had the white collar of feathers at the
base of the black neck stocking, keep in mind that about 20-25% of the
Cacklers and 10-15% of the Taverner's Canada geese also have faint to quite
bold collars. The short bill just didn't seem long enough to be that of an
Aleutian; Bellrose's "Ducks, Geese and Swans of North America" notes that
the average bill length for an Aleutian Canada is from 4mm to 8mm longer
than that of a Cackling Canada. The cackler doesn't get the dark 'purplish'
breast feathers until after its second full body moult; the medium-dark-gray
feathering on the Nisqually bird I've been seeing is consistent with the
plumage of a Cackling Canada goose that hatched last summer.

Has this bird been positively identified as an Aleutian Canada Goose?? (or,
have I been looking at a different individual??!!)

Best,
Jon. Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca at olywa.net