Canada Goose
Branta canadensis
Also known as: Greater Canada Goose
Habitat
Ground
Diet
PlantSeed
Active Time
Diurnal
Size
2.8 kg
About This Species
Large flocks graze on open grass beside lakes, ponds, and park lawns throughout the year, announcing themselves with loud honking before they come into view overhead in their familiar V-formation. Many populations are now year-round residents rather than true migrants, so good views are easy to get at almost any city park pond or golf course.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- Keep well back, especially in spring, when nesting adults and pairs with goslings become genuinely aggressive toward people and dogs that stray too close, hissing, spreading their wings, and charging as a warning.
- Legal protection differs by region: a native migratory species safeguarded under the US Migratory Bird Treaty Act, but a naturalised, unprotected population managed under general licence in the UK, so do not assume one country's rule applies elsewhere.
- Never feed bread to the flock; it offers little nutrition, fouls the water, and encourages overcrowding and disease.
LCAvesAnseriformesAnatidae
Seasonal Activity
22,428,398 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
All monthsThis month
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Anseriformes
- Family
- Anatidae
Traits
- Diet
- PlantSeed
- Foraging
- Ground
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Body mass
- 2.8 kg
Photo
(c) chipperatl, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by chipperatl
CC-BY-NC-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.