Canada Goose - what sub species prevalent in Alberta?

[gilbertslake]

This may have been covered before, but after looking at DU's info on Canada Goose, I am not sure what sub-species are prevalent in Alberta.
Last year, all of my geese were larger 9-12lbs.
This year, the first two birds I killed were big, about 13lbs each. Since then all I am getting are smaller birds about 3 - 5 lbs. These smaller birds are darker than the bigger birds.
I am in Cold Lake, eastern area of province, so I assume we do get some of what are known as Giant Canada Goose sub-species. The smaller birds are most definitely an arctic sub-species. Has there been any research/bird counts done on sub-species in Alberta? Not that it makes a big difference to hunting, but just wondering, why all birds one year are large and this year, predominantly small birds.
This is the URL for the DU info on Canadas
http://www.ducks.org/hunting/waterfowlgallery/4/index.html

[Rockymtnx]

Hi Gilbertslake,

For the most part we don’t see a lot of Giants here in Alberta. They were originally thought to have gone extinct, but rediscovered in the 1960’s. They only place that generally holds them is in southeast Alberta. Giants have a full or partial white band above the bill and eyes. I have shot a ton of geese in my career, and honestly don’t know if I have shot a true Giant. If I have its only been a few. Giants can exceed 22 pounds. However your 13 pound geese could have been giants.

Most of the larger geese we see are Moffits/Western and most of the smaller geese are Lesser's. Moffits/Western geese will range from 9-13 pounds depending on their age. The Lessers will weigh in around 6 pounds.

For the most part most of the other subspecies don’t frequent Alberta. However occasionally some will stray across Alberta’s boarders. Last October I shot an Aleutian Canada Goose. At first I didn’t know what it was but after starting a thread here on AO, we came to the conclusion it was an Aleutian. I also sent some feathers in for testing and sure enough that’s what it came back as.

This is just my observations from hunting geese.

Frequent visitors to Alberta:
Western/Moffits
Lesser’s
Giant’s

Occasional visitors to Alberta:
Cackling (Rare as they are a Pacific flyway bird)
Aleutian(I only say so as I seen it with my own eyes)

Subspecies of Canada Geese
Atlantic (or Eastern) Canada Goose (B. c. canadensis)
Interior (or Central, or Hudson Bay, Todd’s) Canada Goose (B. c. interior)
Moffitt's (or Western or Great Basin) Canada Goose (B. c. moffitti)
Dusky Canada Goose (B. c. occidentalis)
Vancouver (or Queen Charlotte) Canada Goose (B. c. fulva)
Giant Canada Goose (B. c. maxima)
Lesser (or Athabasca) Canada Goose (B. c. parvipes)
Taverner's (or Alaskan) (B. c. taverneri)
Richardson’s (or Baffin Island) Canada Goose(B. c. hutchinsii)
Cackling Canada Goose (B. c. minima)
Aleutian Canada Goose (B.c. leucopareia)

Here are a couple of good links in helping identifing Canada geese.
http://www.oceanwanderers.com/CAGO.Subspecies.html
http://www.camacdonald.com/birding/Canadagoosesubspecies.html

[whitetail Junkie]

Hi Gilbertslake,

For the most part we don’t see a lot of Giants here in Alberta. They were originally thought to have gone extinct, but rediscovered in the 1960’s. They only place that generally holds them is in southeast Alberta. Giants have a full or partial white band above the bill and eyes. I have shot a ton of geese in my career, and honestly don’t know if I have shot a true Giant. If I have its only been a few. Giants can exceed 22 pounds. However your 13 pound geese could have been giants.

Most of the larger geese we see are Moffits/Western and most of the smaller geese are Lesser's. Moffits/Western geese will range from 9-13 pounds depending on their age. The Lessers will weigh in around 6 pounds.

For the most part most of the other subspecies don’t frequent Alberta. However occasionally some will stray across Alberta’s boarders. Last October I shot an Aleutian Canada Goose. At first I didn’t know what it was but after starting a thread here on AO, we came to the conclusion it was an Aleutian. I also sent some feathers in for testing and sure enough that’s what it came back as.

This is just my observations from hunting geese.

Frequent visitors to Alberta:
Western/Moffits
Lesser’s
Giant’s

Occasional visitors to Alberta:
Crackling (Rare as they are a Pacific flyway bird)
Aleutian(I only say so as I seen it with my own eyes)

Subspecies of Canada Geese
Atlantic (or Eastern) Canada Goose (B. c. canadensis)
Interior (or Central, or Hudson Bay, Todd’s) Canada Goose (B. c. interior)
Moffitt's (or Western or Great Basin) Canada Goose (B. c. moffitti)
Dusky Canada Goose (B. c. occidentalis)
Vancouver (or Queen Charlotte) Canada Goose (B. c. fulva)
Giant Canada Goose (B. c. maxima)
Lesser (or Athabasca) Canada Goose (B. c. parvipes)
Taverner's (or Alaskan) (B. c. taverneri)
Richardson’s (or Baffin Island) Canada Goose(B. c. hutchinsii)
Cackling Canada Goose (B. c. minima)
Aleutian Canada Goose (B.c. leucopareia)

Here are a couple of good links in helping identifing Canada geese.
http://www.oceanwanderers.com/CAGO.Subspecies.html
http://www.camacdonald.com/birding/Canadagoosesubspecies.html

I had no idea that there were all kinds of canada geese.I always said they are greater or lesser canadas.

I kid you not a few falls ago I shot a canada goose that was i'm gueessing a 5 year old bird,and it only weighed 3.5 pounds!!! LOL.it had a bill smaller than a mallard.ive shot mallards bigger than that goose,what kind was that one?

[DuckBrat]

Good info.

Lots of Richardson, Cacklers, and lessers on the weekend along with the local birds. We harvested 4 different subs from the field on Saturday.


Good info on this site to support the words above.

http://www.oceanwanderers.com/CAGO.Subspecies.html#cackling

[Rockymtnx]

I had no idea that there were all kinds of canada geese.I always said they are greater or lesser canadas.
I kid you not a few falls ago I shot a canada goose that was i'm gueessing a 5 year old bird,and it only weighed 3.5 pounds!!! LOL.it had a bill smaller than a mallard.ive shot mallards bigger than that goose,what kind was that one?

Yeah WJ, I know what you mean. I was always under the understanding there were Greaters and Lessers. That’s was until I started studying them a few years back. Now every Canada we shoot I look at and try to figure out what subspecies it is.

Last year when I shot the Aleutian I knew it was a different type right away. Anyone even with little Canada goose knowledge could tell it was a little different. It was really brown in color compared to a Lesser and also had a distinctive white ring around its neck.

The 3.5 pound bird you shot could have been a Cackling or Richardson’s. Generally the Richardson’s geese stay east of us. They are known to nest on Baffin Island and migrate down the Mississippi flyway. Sometimes Cackling geese will have a small white band around their neck similar to an Aleutian. Cackling geese migrate down the pacific flyway which some people suggest touches the southern Rockies of Alberta. Due to the size of your bird I would say it was a Richardson’s, but as far as location, he was a long way home and I would point to a Cackling goose.

I had a buddy shoot some Richardson’s geese up on the northwest coast of the Hudson’s Bay last week and man did they look small. His pictures almost look Photoshoped due to their small size.

[209x50]

I don't know geese from nothing but man have there been a lot of sandhills flying over the house this week.

[bunnyhunter]

For the most part, greaters or lessers I have seen...but I have seen groups of the cackling geese on 3 occasions. you could reallt tell as they had short necks and were only slightly bigger than the mallards alongside them.

J

[swifthunter]

I have shot geese that were smaller then ducks we got at the same time. Whats the heaviest goose that we get here then?

[gilbertslake]

thanks guys for all that info. I was going to take a pic of 2 small Canada's along with 3 snows I shot yesterday. The snows were a little bit bigger than the canada's
I think now, I will photograph at least some of the birds I shoot for comparison.
re the sandhills. I cam upon one lying dead yesterday morning at the edge of a field that I hunt. It didn't look like it was shot, but the neck was broken.I saw two coyotes in the next field and had spooked another coyote at almost the exact same spot where I found the dead sandhill, a couple of days earlier. The farmer is asking me to bring a rifle to shoot coyotes when hunting geese. Not to run afoul of Wildlife, I spoke to the local officer and he says I can bring a rifle with me, cased, when hunting geese and that I can use it for coyotes if need be, as long as I don't hunt geese. He says this is not hunting with two guns, but using two shotguns would be. I know that this subject was brought up recently

[DuckBrat]

I know there are pictures on the internet but I went out to the carcass pile from the weekend and pulled 4 birds from it and got some pics that are relevant to the thread.
1. The ring around the base of the cacklers neck.

2. Head difference Local goose (largest), Richardson, and lesser (stubby bill)

3. Body size comparison (back to front) Richardson, lesser, local.


http://i855.photobucket.com/albums/ab118/duckbrat/P9230408.jpg

http://i855.photobucket.com/albums/ab118/duckbrat/P9230410.jpg

http://i855.photobucket.com/albums/ab118/duckbrat/P9230405.jpg

[DuckBrat]

Brown Breast feather Richardsons.

http://i855.photobucket.com/albums/ab118/duckbrat/P9230406.jpg