Oregon Dept. Fish and Wildlife

How to stand out in a crowd of Cacklers

Smaller, noisier and faster than their larger cousins, Canada geese, Cackling geese are tundra breeders that like to spend their winters in the Willamette Valley and points south. Though they look suspiciously like mini-me versions of Canada geese, they are unique in many ways, including having a lower occurrence of leucism than Canada geese.

Leucism is a genetic condition that causes partial pigment loss, in this case, in the feathers. Generally, in birds, the lack of melanin in feathers might cause some feather degradation, and a lighter coloration might make them more visible to predators, but the condition isn’t otherwise harmful.

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