subspecies of cackling goose of varying sizes and plumage details. The female looks virtually identical but is slightly lighter and has a different voice. Some are hard to distinguish from the Canada goose, with which the cackling goose was long assumed to form one species, the cackling goose and the smaller Canada goose subspecies being called the lesser Canada goose. The smallest cackling geese (B. h. minima) are much smaller than any Canada goose, but the subspecies B. h. hutchinsii, at up to , grows to the same size as some Canada geese. The distinctness of the extinct population of the Komandorski and Kuril Islands B. h. asiatica is controversial. The barnacle goose differs in having a black breast and grey, rather than brownish, body plumage. Measurements: Length: Weight: Wingspan: Range This species is native to North America. It breeds in northern Canada and Alaska in a variety of tundra habitats. However, the nest is usually located in an elevated area near water. The eggs are laid in a shallow depression lined with plant material and down. Males can be very aggressive in defending territory. A pair may mate for life (up to around 20 years). Adult geese are often seen leading their goslings in a line with one parent at the front, and the other at the back of the "parade". Like most geese, it is naturally migratory, the wintering range being most of the U.S., and locally in western Canada and northern Mexico. The calls overhead from large groups of cackling geese flying in V-shaped formation signal the transitions into spring and fall. In some areas, migration routes have changed due to changes in habitat and food sources. Cackling geese have occasionally reached western Europe naturally, as has been proved by ringing recoveries. The birds are of at least the subspecies hutchinsii, and possibly others. Cackling geese are also found naturally on occasions in the Kamchatka Peninsula in eastern Siberia, eastern China, and throughout Japan. Despite this, the IUCN considers it extirpated from Japan, where it previously had an established non breeding (winter) population. Feeding These birds feed mainly on plant material. When feeding in water, they submerge their heads and necks to reach aquatic plants, sometimes tipping forward like a dabbling duck. Flocks of these birds often feed on leftover cultivated grains in fields, especially during migration or in winter. They also eat some insects, molluscs and