Canada Geese have a black head and neck with white 'chinstrap'. There are seven subspecies of this bird, of varying sizes and plumage details, but all are recognizable as Canada Geese. The similar Cackling Goose was split from this species; they are smaller and have different proportions than Canada Geese.
Like most geese, the Canada Goose is migratory with the wintering range being most of the United States.
Canada Geese have reached western Europe naturally, as has been proved by ringing recoveries. They are also found naturally on the Kamchatka Peninsula in eastern Siberia, eastern China, and throughout Japan.
The Canada Goose is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List and was last assessed in 2012 by BirdLife International. This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend appears to be increasing, and hence the species does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is extremely large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
A brood patch is a bare area of skin that some birds develop during nesting. The bare skin is an adaptation to help with egg incuabation. The patch of featherless skin allows the parent bird to provide extra warmth from his or her own body to the eggs in... Read more »
If you think our Birdorable birds are cute as adults, what about when they are babies? Below are some baby photos (shared via Flickr Creative Commons) of the Canada Goose. Canada Geese sometimes get a bad rap as nuisance birds and they have a reputation for being aggressive.... Read more »
