I Believe These Are Lesser Canada Geese

[HunterGKS]

This gaggle was by the pond I pass on my way home from lunch. None were in the water,
they were all chillaxin’ on the beach or in the shade. They are smaller than a Greater &
lighter in color so I think they are Lessers. I have never seen Lessers at this pond. There
were at least 19 & none of them seemed at all concerned that I was there. A few of them
did take a swim after 5+ minutes of me snapping pics.

This is also the 1st large flock of geese I have seen since this spring. I wonder if their
northern migration was delayed due to all the screwy weather this spring?

[Hognutz]

I’m not an ornithologist but I think a gaggle of ten or fewer of geese is lesser and a gaggle of ten or more is greater.
I read a book on it once!!

[HunterGKS]

I’m not an ornithologist but I think a gaggle of ten or fewer of geese is lesser and a gaggle of ten or more is greater.
I read a book on it once!!

DOH-1.jpg (11.41 KiB) Viewed 3888 times

[soiltester]

Not to be confused with googlin' over them and ogglin' over then also

Any of them look like they're in "family" groups from this springs hatch??

[HunterGKS]

Any of them look like they're in "family" groups from this springs hatch??

Didn't appear to be & they were all the same size more or less. I don't think this
year's hatch would be full grown yet would they??

[guesswho]

I think they are following Americas lead. The lessers will never be greater, so the greater's were stripped of all they worked for and it was given to the lessers. Now they are all equals. So I think those are a gaggle of Equal Canadian Geese.

[Hognutz]

You cannot strengthen the lesser by weakening the greater..

[swampchicken]

Definitely not lessers.

[Hoobilly]

Leaders have short bills and they are half the size of a Canada

Lil bigger than a full plume Mallard

[jsh909]

What you are referring to is cacklers hoobilly. Lessers are just a smaller subspecies of greators. With all the interbreeding in a lot of the country most seem to believe there is not much difference between the two anymore. You just have some big geese and some smaller geese.

[SwampDrummin]

Any of them look like they're in "family" groups from this springs hatch??

Didn't appear to be & they were all the same size more or less. I don't think this
year's hatch would be full grown yet would they??

I had a goose incubating at my club in Mississippi on March 7th this year, I think it takes about 10 weeks to look like adults. They would have had a month head start to spare over these northern birds but that’s about right on track.

[soiltester]

Usually molt is somewhere around July 4th and I believe, once the parents can fly again the youngsters will learn also!!

[decoykrvr]

Really hard to tell their size by the photos, but usually a real clue between Greater Canada geese and Lessers is their vocalizations. The large Greaters and Giants have a deep resonant honk whereas most Lessors have a much higher pitched bark. You can usually differentiate the species in the air before you can see them by their call, and the flight patterns and the way they decoy and approach a spread are very different. Due to inbreeding, the size of our local geese has decreased significantly from the initial local stocking of Giants > 9 lbs-16 lbs to an average now of 7-9 lbs w/ very few of the really large geese.

[HunterGKS]

Really hard to tell their size by the photos, but usually a real clue between Greater Canada geese and Lessers is their vocalizations. The large Greaters and Giants have a deep resonant honk whereas most Lessors have a much higher pitched bark. You can usually differentiate the species in the air before you can see them by their call, and the flight patterns and the way they decoy and approach a spread are very different. Due to inbreeding, the size of our local geese has decreased significantly from the initial local stocking of Giants > 9 lbs-16 lbs to an average now of 7-9 lbs w/ very few of the really large geese.

These were definitely smaller then the Greaters that are usually on that pond & they were of
a lighter color. What was really odd, to me, is that they were totally quiet. Not even 1 honk
I don't think I've ever been near geese that weren't screaming their heads off.

[soiltester]

I've heard that 1 yr old geese don't breed at all, at least the 1 yr old ganders would make sense in a way but never looked it up or ask

But I shoot em' all and don't worry about anything but shootin' em' down
Definately the greaters are more weary after being decoyed a time or 2 and also their call is distinctive as mentioned

[Hoobilly]

What you are referring to is cacklers hoobilly. Lessers are just a smaller subspecies of greators. With all the interbreeding in a lot of the country most seem to believe there is not much difference between the two anymore. You just have some big geese and some smaller geese.

Yessir I stand corrected!

[jsh909]

What you are referring to is cacklers hoobilly. Lessers are just a smaller subspecies of greators. With all the interbreeding in a lot of the country most seem to believe there is not much difference between the two anymore. You just have some big geese and some smaller geese.

Yessir I stand corrected!

Sorry if that sounded snide, I didn't mean it to come across that way buddy

[Hoobilly]

What you are referring to is cacklers hoobilly. Lessers are just a smaller subspecies of greators. With all the interbreeding in a lot of the country most seem to believe there is not much difference between the two anymore. You just have some big geese and some smaller geese.

Yessir I stand corrected!

Sorry if that sounded snide, I didn't mean it to come across that way buddy

Naw man not at all

What I killed is definitely cacklers. Which is very rare for norther central Indiana

[jsh909]

Yessir I stand corrected!

Sorry if that sounded snide, I didn't mean it to come across that way buddy

Naw man not at all

What I killed is definitely cacklers. Which is very rare for norther central Indiana

Heck yea, those are very rare in our flyway. That is awesome. I would love to get one for the wall