Ken is right about "Lesser Canada" which is what I alluded to in my earlier response. The question for me then is, what does B.Hutchinsii "variant" really mean? Conservative approach to something none of us could really put a label on?
I see Geese like this at many locations throughout our area and at no time at all am I considering Cackling subspecies. Perhaps, I need to rethink that. I imagine eBird reviewers will have their work cut out for them with this one going forward. Personally, I would not call this a Cackling Goose subspecies b.hutchinnsi. But then, I am no expert on these matters ;-) Cheers, 風 Swift as the wind 林 Quiet as the forest 火 Conquer like the fire 山 Steady as the mountain Sun Tzu The Art of War > (__/) > (= '.'=) > (") _ (") > Sent from somewhere in the field using my mobile device! Andrew Baksh www.birdingdude.blogspot.com > On Feb 15, 2016, at 2:55 PM, Peter Post <pwp...@nyc.rr.com> wrote: > > > Jean Irons kindly forwarded my query concerning the Id of the Central Park > goose to goose expert Ken Abraham. His opinion is that it is a Cackling Goose > (B. hutchinsii). Details below: > > Peter Post > > > Begin forwarded message: > >> From: jeani...@sympatico.ca >> Date: February 15, 2016 11:09:48 AM EST >> To: birdw...@listserv.ksu.edu >> Subject: Re: [BIRDWG01] goose ID >> Reply-To: jeani...@sympatico.ca >> >> Hi Peter, >> >> >> >> We asked goose expert Ken Abraham to comment. Please see >> below. >> >> >> >> “It’s difficult to tell what this bird is, other than >> that it is smaller white-cheeked goose than the associated birds (which are >> likely large Canada Geese of the local breeding population). The bill is the >> obvious character trait that doesn’t fit the birder’s conventional wisdom >> that >> a cackling goose must have a short, stubby, triangular bill. This is not the >> case. Photographs of breeding geese from Southampton Island and western >> Hudson >> Bay coast of Nunavut deemed to be B. hutchinsii show a variety of bill >> shapes, >> including ones that look like the bird in this observation. There is also a >> fairly large variation in B. hutchinsii body size from the Nunavut-Manitoba >> border to Baffin Island (larger in the >> south approaching the low end of the B. c. interior size range). >> >> >> >> My usual caveat about identification of any eastern >> white-cheeked goose as a Lesser Canada Goose B. c. parvipes is that such a >> bird >> would be exceedingly exceedingly rare based on all known band recoveries from >> the restricted breeding range of B. c. parvipes >> as it understood since the revision of thinking about species and >> subspecies in the 2004 A.O.U. split. Current thinking is that B. c. parvipes >> is >> restricted to Alaska, and that the small white cheeked geese across the >> Canadian arctic from Yukon to Nunavut are B. >> hutchinsii. The observer of this bird may not be aware of this (and >> frankly most people aren’t because some of the information isn’t published or >> widely available). >> >> >> >> Thus, as a conservative thinker on this issue of small >> white-cheeked geese, I would call this bird a B. hutchinsii variant.” >> >> >> >> Ron Pittaway and Jean Iron >> >> Toronto ON >> >> >>> Date: Sun, 14 Feb 2016 11:28:03 -0500 >>> From: pwp...@nyc.rr.com >>> Subject: [BIRDWG01] goose ID >>> To: birdw...@listserv.ksu.edu >>> >>> I photographed this goose, yesterday, 13 February, on the Central >>> Park Reservoir, New York City. I would appreciate comments >>> concerning ID. I'm leaning toward B. canadensis parvipes. Thanks. >>> >>> Photos can be found here: >>> http://www.ardithbondi.com/page127.html >>> >>> Peter Post >>> New York City, NY >>> >>> Archives: http://listserv.ksu.edu/archives/birdwg01.html >> >> Archives: http://listserv.ksu.edu/archives/birdwg01.html > -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --