Canadian Birds Essay, Research Paper

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