Canada Goose

[Ilija Dukovski]

This is one of the first test shots with my new camera. Not bad so far...
Bright sun and fill flash, did eye-doctor, removed bright bits from the bill...
CC appreciated.

Nikon D700 300mm+TC14 f/5.6 1/1250 ISO400 Matrix AP Flash

[D. Robert Franz]

A fine portrait with great detail good light and BG...

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Sweet light and excellent detail and exposure. Fine portrait!! Thanks for sharing.

[Stu Bowie]

Ilija, I like the comp with just enough space all round, and a lovely close up. Sharp, and what a great BG.

[Gyorgy Szimuly]

Lovely details and sharpness. I like this portrait.
Looks to be a Cackling Goose but I might be wrong :)

Szimi

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the composition, sharpness and BG and would only tone down the whites a tad.

[arash_hazeghi]

Excellent portrait, love the details and BG, love it as presented.

[Ilija Dukovski]

Thank you everyone for the kind comments. I appreciate it a lot.

[Ilija Dukovski]

Looks to be a Cackling Goose but I might be wrong :)

Szimi

Good point Szimi, this is a murky area of the Canada/Cackling split.
I have very little experience with Cackling, and my first reaction was that
it is one of the lesser Canadas.
This was not too small bird, definitely not a B. h. minima. Could be a B. h. hutchinsii
or (very unlikely in MA) taverneri.
I don't think this is a Cackling though, since the bill length measured at the lower
mandible is more than half the width of the head. I think one of the definite ID
marks for all Cackling sub-species is that the bill length is about or less than half the head width.
Also, the most likely Cackling in MA is hutchinsii which has very steep forehead and "square" head.
The bird on the image has round head and quite wedge shaped look with the bill.
Here's another image of the bird, with the pale breast and no breast ring I'd say this might
be B. c. parvipes, "just" a lesser Canada, but still a sub-species not often reported in MA.

With the permission of the moderators I can post a link to this thread on MASSBIRD,
a MA birding site and see what the others think about it. Also I will start a thread in the ID forum to
hear other opinions here.

Cheers,