FREE ESSAY ON CANADIAN BIRDS

CANADIAN BIRDS

The Branta Canadensis, better known as the Canada Goose is a 
magnificent
bird which can be found all over North America. People from all over 
North
America look towards the sky when the Canada Geese go honking overhead 
in
their trademark V formation, and because they nest all over Canada 
and some of
the United States many people have a chance to witness the birds 
migration to the
nesting grounds and back to the wintering grounds. The Canada Goose is
respected by so many of us because of it's dignity and courage and 
refusal to give
up. Over the years the Canada Goose has picked up many slang names, 
some of
these are: Canadian Goose, Canadian Honker, Honker, Honker Goose, Big
Honker, Old Honker, Boy Goose, Bernache (French for Barnacle Goose), Big
Mexican Goose, Blackee, Blacknecked Goose, Brant, French Goose, Northern
Goose, Reef Goose, Ringneck, Wavy, and White-cheeked Goose (Wormer).
The Canada Goose has excellent eyesight which makes it difficult to 
hunt
because the Goose can see the hunter well before the hunter ever sees 
the goose
(Wormer). This eyesight is essential for flying though, a Canada Goose 
can see
three quarters of a sphere without moving its head (Wormer). The 
Canada Goose
also has an acute sense of hearing, it's ears are positioned on the 
side of it's head
(Wormer). They have either no sense of smell or a very poor one, but 
this does not
impede the goose in any way (Wormer). Although there is a large 
variation in size
all subspecies of Canada Geese look the same physically (Wormer) The 
male and
female Canada Goose look almost exactly the same except the female can 
usually
be recognized because it is smaller and less aggressive (Wormer). 
Colors also vary
but, the color pattern is generally the same for all the subspecies 
(Godfrey). The
head and neck are dark black with a large white patch on each cheek 
which meet
under the chin, this is the Canada Goose's most easily recognized 
characteristic
because it is unique to the Canada Goose (Wormer). The upper parts of 
the body
as well as the wings are greyish brown, the feathers tipped with 
brownish white
(Godfrey). The tail is black with the upper tail coverts white and the 
under tail
coverts are white also (Godfrey). The under body is brownish grey with 
paler
feather tips, the sides being the darkest and the lower belly is white 
(Godfrey). 
The feathers of the breast commonly called down are broad and square 
tipped
(Godfrey). The bill and legs are dark black, and the iris of the eye 
is brown with a
black pupil (Wormer). The Canada Goose in it's first Autumn and Winter 
is
similar to the adults but breast feathers are narrower, softer and more 
rounded, the
outer primaries on the other hand are less rounded than those of a 
mature adult
(Godfrey). The Canada Goose color pattern works as a great disguise, 
when lying
flat with the neck outstretched the Canada Goose looks like a clump of 
grass and
dirt and difficult to distinguish as a goose even on snow or ice 
(Wormer). All
goslings of all subspecies of the Canada Goose look identical (Breen). 
Goslings
are bright yellow and weigh less than one pound when hatched, after two 
weeks
they way two pounds, after one month their weight is three to four 
pounds and
their color is a dull grey, after six weeks a color pattern can be seen 
and inclination
to fly i.e.. running on top of the water flapping it's wings, after 
eight weeks they
look like adult and weigh six to seven pounds and some are able to fly 
others begin
to fly in their ninth week, further growth depends on the subspecies 
(Breen). 
There are eleven subspecies of the Canada Goose but the characteristics 
that
separate them usually cannot be seen from a distance (Wormer). Branta
Canadensis Minima, also known as the Cackling Canada Goose is the 
smallest of
all subspecies weighing only two and a half to four pounds (Wormer). 
It is the
darkest in color and has the highest pitch call (Wormer). Branta 
Canadensis
Hutchinsii, also known as the Richardson Canada Goose weighs three to 
seven
pounds and is light in color, it's call has a pitch slightly deeper 
than that of the
Cackling Canada Goose (Wormer). Branta Canadensis taverneri, also 
known as
Taverner's Canada Goose weighs three and a half to five pounds and is 
dark in
color (Wormer). Branta Canadensis leucopareia, also known as the 
Aleutian
Canada Goose also weighs three and a half pounds and is identical to 
Taverner's
Canada Goose except it has a narrow white ring separating the black 
neck from the
dark grey-brown body (Wormer). Branta Canadensis Parvipes, also known 
as the
Lesser Canada Goose weighs six pounds and is light colored (Wormer). 
Branta
Canadensis Occidentalis, also known as the Dusky Canada Goose Weighs 
five to
twelve pounds and is dark brown almost chocolate covered (Wormer). 
Branta
Canadensis, also known as the Atlantic Canada Goose weighs six to 
eleven pounds
and is light colored (Wormer). Branta Canadensis Interior, also known 
as Todd's
Canada Goose also weighs six to eleven pounds and is medium colored 
(Wormer). 
Branta Canadensis Moffiti, also known as the Western Canada Goose weighs
twelve to fifteen pounds and is medium colored (Wormer). Branta 
Canadensis
Fulva, also known as the Vancouver Canada Goose weighs six to thirteen 
pounds
and is dark in color, ninety percent of this species do not migrate and 
live in British
Columbia all year round (Wormer). Branta Canadensis Maxima, also 
known as
the Giant Canada Goose is said to be the most beautiful of all the 
subspecies but it
is known that they are the most easily domesticated (Wormer). Giant 
Canadas
Weigh eighteen to twenty pounds and are medium colored. Their 
diagnostic
feature is that there is a small backward projecting hook on the white 
cheek patch
(Wormer). The Canada Goose has ten vocalizations or calls which it 
uses to
communicate with other Canada Geese, honking, long distance call, 
greeting,
alarm, short distance call of mate, short distance call to goslings, 
special greeting
for female, adult distress, gosling distress, and gosling contentment 
call as well as a
scream of pain when the bird is bitten (Wormer). 
It takes a female goose a day to a day and half to lay an egg (Wormer).
Each goose lays and average of five to six eggs, sometimes only two and
sometimes one goose may lay eleven to twelve eggs (Wormer). With sixty 
percent
of all eggs laid hatching tow Canada Geese produce an average of three 
goslings
per year (Wormer). Male to Female births are split down the middle, 50-
50
(Wormer). The eggs are dull white and 2.86 by 1.89 inches to 3.43 by 2.
34 inches
(Godfrey) and weigh 3.5 to 7.5 ounces (Breen). The incubation period 
lasts
twenty five to twenty eight days with an average incubation temperature 
of 100.4
degrees Fahrenheit to 101.3 degrees Fahrenheit (Wormer). Most of the 
Canada
Geese killed from hunting are twelve to twenty-three years old (Wormer).
Canada
Geese in captivity however live an aver age of twenty to thirty years 
and
sometimes even over forty (Wormer). The Canada Goose has a very rapid 
growth
rate, in fact if an average human baby were to grow as fast as a 
gosling it would
weigh one-hundred and thirty-eight pounds by the time it was eight 
weeks old
(Wormer). Goslings begin to develop feathers after their third week 
and after their
fifth week the feather are the color of and adults (Breen). The adult 
geese begin
molting when the goslings are two weeks old and is unable to fly for 
five to six
weeks (Breen). After the molting period the goslings are eight to nine 
weeks old
and are ready to fly with their parents (Breen).
The Canada Goose has two types of habitat, breeding grounds, and
Wintering grounds (Ross). Canada Gees migrate north to their breeding 
grounds
and south to their wintering grounds (Ross). During migration north 
and south the
geese follow four main flyways, Atlantic flyway, Pacific Flyway, 
Mississippi
Flyway and the Central Flyway (Breen). Within these flyways are 
migration
corridors (refer to maps 1 and 2), biologists are not sure how they 
follow the same
corridor year after year (Breen). There are three main theories of how 
a Canada
Goose navigates to the same breeding and wintering grounds each 
migration
(Breen). One theory is that they rely on landscape cues, another 
theory is that they
use the position of the sun and stars, and the third theory is that 
they have iron rich
tissue in their brains, like that of a pigeon and they use the earth's 
magnetic field to
navigate, but exactly how Canada Geese navigate is unknown (Breen). 
Some
ducks may fly as fast as eighty miles per hour but the Canada Goose 
flies at a much
more graceful speed of forty-two to forty-five miles per hour during 
migration and
can fly as fast as sixty miles per hour. Canada Geese always take off 
into the wind
and usually fly at an altitude between one thousand and three thousand 
feet but in
bad weather will fly as low as a couple hundred feet and when traveling 
over short
distance they prefer walking because it uses less energy (Breen). When 
in flying
in flocks Canada Geese fly in their trademark V formation, this 
formation is
created because each goose flies behind and to the side of the goose in 
front of it 
allows them to take advantage of the slipstream created, this technique 
is known to
automobile racers as drafting and it lets the Canada Goose fly seventy-
one percent
further than just going by itself (Breen). Another skill Canada Geese 
use to land in
heavy wind is wiffeling, to do this the goose turns its body sideways 
so that it's
wings are perpendicular to the ground, the bird loses it's left and 
basically falls out
of the sky, this technique is known to glider pilots as side slipping 
because you slip
out of the sky (Breen). Most people believe that the migration north 
and the
migration south are the same but actually they are different (Breen). 
The migration
north to the breeding grounds is a slower and more relaxed one than 
that of the one
moving south (Wormer). The migration north sometimes begins in late 
January for
Canada Geese that are wintering far south, but the majority of movement 
occurs in
March (Resource Reader). The female chooses the breeding grounds and 
nesting
site, the breeding grounds are those of which she was hatched (Breen). 
Ideal
breeding grounds have the following characteristics: Browsing area for 
prior to
nesting season, firm foundations, excellent visibility in all 
directions, isolated,
brooding area of open water, aquatic feeding area, cover of emergent 
plants for
protection during molting, and a browsing area for brood after they 
learn to fly
(Wormer). Some areas with these characteristics are: swamps, marshes, 
meadows,
rivers, lakes, ponds, islands, Tundra and coastal plain (Wormer). 
Preferred places
to build the nest are small islets, muskrat houses, other birds 
abandoned or
sometimes unabandoned nests, in the case where the nest is still 
occupied the
female goose will incubate the other birds eggs as well as her own. 
Canada Geese
especially the Giant Canada will also use man made nests like washtubs, 
old tires
and haystacks (Wormer). Nest size varies from four inches deep by ten 
inches
wide to fifteen inches deep and forty-four inches wide (Wormer). After 
the female
has chosen the breeding grounds, nesting site and built the nest the 
male guards
while she incubates the eggs (Wormer). Canada Geese breed all over 
Canada and
in ideal breeding areas there may be many geese per acre but some 
territories may
be as much as thirty five acres (Wormer) (See maps 1 and 2 for breeding 
areas and
densities of geese). The migration south to the wintering grounds is a 
much faster
paced migration than the one north and done in much larger flocks 
(Breen). Each
flock usually consists of a group of families (Breen). October and mid-
November
is when the greatest numbers of Canada Geese can be seen moving south
(Resource Reader). Popular wintering grounds have a good food supply, 
suitable
resting grounds near a lake, river or resivoir, the body of water 
should be large and
have low banks or shorelines for loafing and the climate should not be 
to cold
(Wormer). It is often on the wintering grounds that the geese choose 
their mate
whom they will pair with for life, unless one is killed (Obee). Some 
Canada Geese
migrate as far as Mexico, others stop further north, some don't migrate 
at all and
some even migrate across the ocean to Japan (Ross) (Refer to maps 1 and 
2 for
wintering areas and densities of geese). 
Canada Geese like to feed mid-morning and just before sunset leaving 
the
mid-day for relaxing. Canada Geese graze cord grass, spike rush, naiad,
glasswort,
bullrush, salt grass, seepweed, Bermuda grass, golden dock, lycium, 
brome grass,
wild barley, rabbit-foot grass, pepper grass, saltbush, cattail, alkali 
grass, and tansy
mustard (Wormer). They will eat Ladino or Dutch white clover if it is 
mixed with
other grasses that the goose normally eats, they will not eat alfalfa 
unless it is
young and tender (Wormer). Canada Geese also feed on all human grown 
grains
but their favorite of all foods is corn (Breen). The most popular 
foods are, corn
which forty three percent of geese feed on, small grain fed on by 
twenty four
percent of geese, twenty two percent feed on pasture, and soybeans 
accounts for
the other nine percent (Breen). Apart from dry land grazing Canada 
Geese also
feed on some aquatic growth (Wormer). Canada Geese are mostly 
vegetarian but
they do feed on some small insects, insect larvae, mollusks and small 
crustaceans
(Wormer).
Dogs will chase and kill Canada Geese for fun and coyotes and wolves 
will
also kill Canada Geese for food, but most of the time geese are much to 
fast for
land mammals unless they are hurt or wounded or it is during molting 
season
(Wormer). Molting season is the most dangerous time of the Canada 
Goose's life
because it cannot fly, however even without their flight feathers a 
Canada Goose
can still outrun a man over land and may even be able to fight of an 
attacker with
strong blows from it's wings and using it's beak as a weapon (Breen). 
Humans are
the largest predator of the Canada Goose (Wormer). However due to 
strict
management of hunting of Canada Geese the population has not been 
decreased by
hunting (Wormer). In 1995 Goose hunting season for North Game Bird 
District
opened on September first and closed December ninth with a bag limit of 
nine
daily which not more than six may be dark geese and of these not more 
than four
may be whitefronts (Wiens). In the South Game Bird District of 
Saskatchewan the
season for goose hunting opened on September eleventh and also closed on
December ninth with a bag limit of eighteen of which not more than 
twelve may be
dark geese and of these not more than six may be whitefronts (Wiens). 
Parasites are not responsible for to many adult goose deaths but they 
do
cause some (Wormer). Most of the damage parasites do is killing 
goslings two to
three days old (Wormer). Some internal parasites of Canada Geese 
include both
worm and blood parasites (Wormer). Externally the Canada Goose also has
various kinds of lice (Wormer).
Some times a female Canada Goose will nest in a nest that has already 
been
made by an eagle or hawk and may still be occupied (Wormer). If the 
nest
contains the eggs of the bird who built the nest the female Canada 
Goose will
incubate the other birds eggs as well as her own (Wormer). This 
benefits both
birds because it leaves the other bird more time to rest and eat and 
the Canada
Goose gets to use a nest (Wormer). Canada Geese frequently nest on top 
of
muskrat houses because they are on open water where the eggs are safe 
from other
birds and foxes, this does not disturb the muskrat in any way (Wormer). 
The
Canada Goose will also nest in an abandoned nest of a hawk, eagle or 
other large
bird (Wormer). There have been cases reported of small songbirds seen 
riding on
the backs of Canada Geese on their migration route or hunters who have 
shot a
goose and found a smaller bird tucked away in it's feathers, However 
there is no
scientific documentation of this (Breen).
The Canada Goose's largest competition is usually other Canada Geese
(Wormer). Canada Geese do not mind if other waterfowl such as ducks are
nesting nearby but they will fight other Canada Geese for their 
territory if it is
necessary (Wormer). It is important that Canada Geese do not build 
nests to close
together because when the goslings are first hatched they cannot 
recognize their
parents nor can their parents recognize them and the goslings can 
become easily
mixed up and follow a different set of parents (Wormer).
Humans have had a strong effect on the population of the Canada Goose,
good and bad effects. Agricultural waste water kills many geese each 
year another
human waste that kills geese is when they ingest spent ammunition with 
gravel, the
geese die of lead poisoning and it is a very painful death and more 
common than
most people think (Wormer). Urban growth, industry and draining land 
for
farming contribute to the four hundred thousand acres of wetland lost 
each year in
the United States which has had a tremendous effect on some waterfowl, 
however
this does not directly effect the Canada Goose's birth rate because 
most Canada
Geese breed far enough north that they are isolated from progress 
(Breen). The
disappearing of wetlands does effect them indirectly though because 
they are used
for resting and feeding along the migration route and are important for 
safety
(Breen). Nesting sites in the north aren't totally safe from humans 
though, the
Exxon oil spill has damaged Canada Goose habitat (Breen). Plans to dam 
the
Yukon River could also ruin the nesting grounds for over two hundred 
thousand
Canada Geese (Breen).
The number of people who are trying to protect wetlands has become 
quite
large (Breen). The largest and best known group is probably Ducks 
Unlimited
Canada which was founded in 1937 and has over one-hundred thousand 
members
most of which are hunters (Breen). In 1973 it expanded into the United 
States
which now has over five-hundred and fifty thousand members also which 
are
mostly hunters and one year after in 1974 Ducks Unlimited de Mexico 
joined the
other two groups in wetland protection (Breen). Since their founding 
Ducks
Unlimited have raised nearly one half billion dollars ninety three 
percent of which
has been invested in projects to aid waterfowl such as the Canada Goose 
(Breen).
As long as the Canada Goose's private northern breeding grounds are not
disturbed this magnificent bird should be with us a long time. For 
most people the
Canada Goose symbolizes autumn when we see them gracefully soaring 
through
the air to their warm winter home and they also symbolize spring time 
when they
come back from their winter home. The Canada Goose is a bird with 
dignity and
pride and is a bird that is loved by all who see and hear it