Cackling Goose
Branta hutchinsii
ORDER: ANSERIFORMES
FAMILY: ANATIDAE
IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern
The newly recognized Cackling Goose is a smaller version of the Canada Goose. Formerly considered the smallest subspecies of one variable species, recent work on genetic differences found the four smallest forms to be very different. These four races are now recognized as a full species: the Cackling Goose. It breeds farther northward and westward than does the Canada Goose.