Find out about the Canada Goose in the Aviary at the Forest Cottage.

Here is Lucy the Goose Beanie Baby and a little Canada Goose Audubon Bird with sound from Wild Republic. Also shown is a Canada Goose Decoy Sculpture. Find these at our sponsor's website, Jeannie's Cottage LLC.

The Canada goose (Branta canadensis) is an attractive gray-brown bird with a black head and neck, bill and legs. The most distinguishing field mark is the white chin strap that runs from cheek to cheek.

Canada geese can be found in lakes, bays, rivers and marshes. You'll often find them feeding in open grasslands and plowed fields. The female lays 4 to 8 whitish eggs in a down-lined mass of grass and moss; usually on the ground near water or on a muskrat lodge. Will sometimes nest in a tree in an abandoned eagle's nest. This goose can be found from Alaska through Canada and the northern U.S. It winters to the south to Mexico. It is also semidomesticated and can be found in city parks and on reservoirs.

The Canada goose is well known for the familiar V-shaped migrating flocks and rich, melancholy honking. Canada Geese are among the most familiar of North America's waterfowl. There are 11 geographical races, ranging in size from the "Giant Canada Goose" of the northern prairies to the smaller "Cackling Goose," which nests in the Yukon and winters mainly in California. The size of these birds can range from 25 to 45 inches long. Like other geese, these birds are chiefly grazers, feeding on stubble fields and eating marsh vegetation.

Class: Aves | Order: Anseriformes | Family: Anatidae | Genus: Branta | Species: B. canadensis

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photo of Canada Geese courtesy of Jeanne Jones