Cackling Goose

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Listen to the Cackling Goose

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About the Cackling Goose

Cackling geese resemble Canada geese in appearance. Male cackling geese are slightly larger than females, with both sexes having long, black necks with white chinstraps. The breast, abdomen and flanks range in coloring from a light gray to a dark chocolate brown, either blending into the black neck or being separated from it by a wide white collar. The back and scapulars are darker brown, the rump is blackish and the tail is blackish-brown with a U-shaped white band on the rump. The bill, legs and feet are black.

Cackling geese are a small-bodied group of four subspecies, consisting of the Aleutian, Cackling, Taverner’s and Richardson’s (Hutchins’s) geese. Cackling geese have proportionally smaller, stubbier, triangular-shaped bills than their Canada goose counterparts.