I have been working on the status of Cackling vs. Canada Goose for each of the 39 counties in Washington. I've gotten feed back from many birders, but some aren't sure. Many years ago like 1974, having just gotten back from the Peace Corps in India I purchased for $4 a small book by Peter Scott, waterfowl expert in England, called A Colored Key to the Wildfowl of the World. This shows all the races of what was then all Canada Geese. Like Lesser with it's lighter breast than Taverner's which probably may be the biggest problem. Lesser is a race of Canada while Taverner's is a race of Cackling and both very similar to size. I think most of us can pull out the Dusky or Aleutian or Cackling. If any of you have an idea of the status of Cackling in your county or a county that you bird in, I would like some feed-back as to what you think is their status per that county.

Some counties such as Asotin, Garfield, Columbia, Stevens, Ferry are super under birded. I've noticed most Cackling Geese are pure, or almost pure flocks of Cackling, while Canada Geese can have Cackling, Snow, Ross's, or Greater White-fronted mixed in.

I have gotten feed-back from over 25 birders and will put together a small blurp in the next issue of Washington Birder, just to try and get a handle on it. It appears it may take 2-3 years to tweak this out.

Thanks ahead of time for your response,

Ken Knittle
Washington Birder newsletter
2604 NE 80th Street
Vancouver, WA 98665
mailto:washingtonbirder at hotmail.com<mailto:washingtonbirder at hotmail.com>