Photo taken at my farm in rural Saskatchewan. This was one of 6 or 8 sets of parents and goslings. When the goslings are a little older and get their wings, they are called fledglings. A group of Canada goose parents and babies is called a creche. A general ground group of Canada geese is called a flock, and a flying group is called a skein. Which is a fun term for us!
FUN FACT: (which also gets me in trouble since people never see the humour in this)
Canada geese is the correct term for the species. Calling a Canada goose a ‘Canadian goose’ is technically incorrect, but you can do it if you like. Truthfully, I’d say that perhaps 50 percent of Canadians don’t know the difference, either. (and you’ll have a number of us insist that they’ve always called them that, their great-grandfather called them that, and they would stand out in their community or at knitting group if they dared to say ‘Canada goose’ instead of ‘Canadian goose’…)
~~one wonders how often Canada geese come up in crafting circles. Perhaps more often, now that we have a Canada Goose border!~~
Here’s how it works:
If you have a Canada goose, and he is born in Canada, and flies to the States, he could be a Canadian Canada goose. But he’s not an American Canada goose unless he is born there. He’s never an American goose (unless you are just referring to any old goose, not a Canada goose). If you have a Canada goose born in Australia (and yes, they exist there; they were brought in some years ago), they are Australian Canada geese. Not Australian Canadian geese.
And for the nerds:
The AOU has divided the many subspecies between the two species. The subspecies of the Canada goose were listed as:
Atlantic Canada goose, B. c. canadensis
Interior Canada goose, B. c. interior
Giant Canada goose, B. c. maxima
Moffitt’s Canada goose, B. c. moffitti
Vancouver Canada goose, B. c. fulva
Dusky Canada goose, B. c. occidentalis
Lesser Canada goose, B. c. parvipes
See how they are all still ‘Canada geese’?
Later in the season
