Cackling Goose

I have started thinking about getting the next installment of my west trip from the summer together but I thought I would write a quick post about a fun bird I had the other day.  I am one of the volunteers who counts migrating hawks, vultures, and raptors in general at the Boothe Memorial Park Hawkwatch in Stratford (CT).  While I was at the count this past Sunday we had a group of Canada Geese go overhead.  While counting the individual birds one stuck out as being significantly smaller.  There's a lot of talk about how to identify Cackling vs. smaller subspecies of Canada Goose but this bird, all by itself in size, must be a Cackling Goose.  If you want to read more about the different subspecies and idenitifcation tips for Canada and Cackling Goose, check out David Sibley's blog post: http://www.sibleyguides.com/2007/07/identification-of-cackling-and-canada-goose/

Here's my goose.

 

What do you think?