Cliff,
I don’t know if Harry Kueger’s blog is still accessible, but I used it back in the day as THE guide for figuring out Canada Goose subspecies. I don’t even know how to find it, and my printed copies are in storage. My two cents worth…
Louie Quintana
Enviado desde mi iPhone
> El feb 1, 2018, a las 7:39 AM, Cliff and Lisa Weisse cliffandlisa@octobersetters.com [ible]
>
> Hi Steve,
>
> I’ve been on the road for the last month and haven’t seen any response to this so I’ll give you my two cents’ worth. Yes, parvipes/Lesser occurs here in Idaho. I’ve seen birds like you describe and to me they fit very well into parvipes based on the longer bill length to head ratio. Of course there will always be intermediate birds you can’t comfortably identify.
> Here are a few links to references for separating Cackling/Canada Goose to subspecies:
> http://www.sibleyguides.com/2007/07/identification-of-cackling-and-canada-goose/
> http://www.sibleyguides.com/2010/09/bill-size-not-shape-distinguishes-cackling-and-canada-goose/
> http://www.utahbirds.org/RecCom/IDhelp/Cackling_Goose-NAB.pdf
> I found the bill size post on Sibley’s site really interesting. Apparently the deeper based appearance of the bill on Cackling Goose is an optical illusion. Actually the bill shape is almost almost identical to Canada. Definitely worth a look.
>
> Cliff
>
>> On 01/21/2018 09:56 PM, Steve Kahl Steve_Kahl@fws.gov [ible] wrote:
>>
>> About 4 weeks ago I started noticing a few Canada geese w/ noticeably smaller bills and shorter/thicker necks among the typical moffitti/maxima. They are also noticeably smaller than the moffitti/maxima but not nearly small enough to be cackling geese. These smaller birds are similarly light chested to the moffitti/maxima.
>>
>>
>> The first week or two I just attributed it to individual variation of a couple individuals. But, this weekend out of over 600 Canadas I counted in three locations, at least 15 stuck out as these small birds. This included birds within flocks of moffitti/maxima flying over, standing along the shoreline preening/loafing, and grazing in a pasture.
>>
>> Can anyone advise on which subspecies this more likely could be? My best guess would be lesser/parvipes. But, I’m well aware of how tricky ID’ing Canada geese to subspecies away from their breeding grounds can be.
>>
>> Thank you!
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>
> —
> Cliff and Lisa Weisse
> Island Park, Idaho
> cliffandlisa@octobersetters.com
>