ORCA
THAT THREAD
you put nivember instead of november XD
please revise-

Ohh yeahhh
Hmm
Still holiday-ish though.

Username/Nickname: Laurelee
User ID: 48646
Pronouns?: female
What kind of nerd are you? (music, math, video games, etc.): math, science (biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy), computers, old video games, old comic books, Star Trek, Batman, Green Hornet, etc. Cause I'm old enough to remember when Pong was the newest thing and Star Trek, etc were weekly series.
Notable Achievements (for fun, it can be anything you're proud of lol): I was one of 58 people who submitted the name "Chandra(sekhar)" for the AXAF Observatory, so I have a certificate on my wall from NASA.
Pinglist?: Yea
Color Hex:
Title, because titles: The Ancient One
Other?:


The Cackling Goose, Branta hutchinsii, has only existed as a named species for about 15 years or so. Before that it was considered a subspecies of the Canada Goose, Branta canadiensis. Genetic sequencing was required to determine that the 4 smallest extant subspecies of the Canada Goose and one extinct subspecies native to Japan were distinctly different from the other 7 and they were split out into the hutchinsii species. It was a serendipitous finding, as the people doing the study were hoping to reduce the number of subspecies of Branta canadiensis and ended up splitting it into 2 species with 11 total subspecies instead.

In general, though, the Cackling Goose has a much more Arctic breeding distribution than the Canada Goose. Except during migration, unless you are in the extreme far north Arctic (breeding season) or the warm valleys of California, Texas or Mexico (overwintering grounds) you will probably never see a Cackling Goose. You were fortunate indeed to see them if they merely migrated through your area.

Hey, ping me ^^
Yea, I'm from California :P
Hmm yea, I read somewhere that they weren't recognized until recently, I'm not surprised xD

I lived in Cali for 25 years. First Redding, then Modesto, then Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Redwood City.
I majored in genetics and am really a nerdy birder, so that's how i knew about the geese--my two interests collided.