This immature goose was at Old Reid Park in Springfield (Clark County) on December 24, 2009. I first thought it was a Cackling Goose but the bill looked too long to me. It also differed from our expected subspecies (Richardson's or B. h. hutchinsii) in that the head shape was not right and the breast was darker.

I sent the images to Steve Mlodinow to get his opinion, and he shared them with a couple other experts. They thought it could be a Taverner's Cackling Goose (B. h. taverneri) but not definitely. They felt the parvipes subspecies of Canada Goose was also a possibility.

Rick Asamoto

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