Branta canadensis maxima

The Canada goose (Branta canadensis) is a large wild goose species with a black head and neck, white cheeks, white under its chin, and a brown body. Native to arctic and temperate regions of North America, its migration occasionally reaches northern Europe. It has been introduced to the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Argentina, Chile, and the Falkland Islands. Like most geese, the Canada goose is primarily herbivorous and normally migratory; it tends to be found on or close to fresh water. Extremely successful at living in human-altered areas, Canada geese have proven able to establish breeding colonies in urban and cultivated areas, which provide food and few natural predators. The success of this common park species has led to its often being considered a pest species because of its depredation of crops and its noise, droppings, aggressive territorial behavior towards both humans and other animals, and its habit of begging for food (caused by human hand feeding). The Canada goose was one of the many species described by Carl Linnaeus in his 18th-century work Systema Naturae. It belongs to the Branta genus of geese, which contains species with largely black plumage, distinguishing them from the grey species of the genus Anser. Branta is a Latinised form of Old Norse Brandgás, 'burnt (black) goose' and the specific epithet canadensis is a New Latin word meaning 'from Canada'. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first citation for the 'Canada goose' dates back to 1772. The Canada goose is also colloquially referred to as the 'Canadian goose'. The cackling goose was originally considered to be the same species or a subspecies of the Canada goose, but in July 2004, the American Ornithologists' Union's Committee on Classification and Nomenclature split them into two species, making the cackling goose into a full species with the scientific name Branta hutchinsii. The British Ornithologists' Union followed suit in June 2005. The AOU has divided the many subspecies between the two species. The subspecies of the Canada goose were listed as: The distinctions between the two geese have led to confusion and debate among ornithologists. This has been aggravated by the overlap between the small types of Canada goose and larger types of cackling goose. The old 'lesser Canada geese' were believed to be a partly hybrid population, with the birds named B. c. taverneri considered a mixture of B. c. minima, B. c. occidentalis, and B. c. parvipes. The holotype specimen of taverneri is a straightforward large pale cackling goose however, and hence the taxon is still valid today and was renamed 'Taverner's cackling goose'. In addition, the barnacle goose (B. leucopsis) was determined to be a derivative of the cackling goose lineage, whereas the Hawaiian goose (B. sandvicensis) originated from ancestral Canada geese. Thus, the species' distinctness is well evidenced, A recent proposed revision by Harold C. Hanson suggests splitting Canada and cackling goose into six species and 200 subspecies. The radical nature of this proposal has provoked surprise in some quarters; Richard Banks of the AOU urges caution before any of Hanson's proposals are accepted.