So you’ve heard of Greater White-fronted Geese (or maybe you haven’t)...
But did you know there are 2 subspecies in California?!??! (and another 2 outside of North America).
Here I present you with the Pacific White-fronted goose (top photo, left goose) and the Tule White-fronted goose (top photo, right goose).
Look at the size difference! These are both adult males.
Pacifics tend to be smaller, have way more black barring on their bellies, and have a light gray head (bottom photo, top goose) vs Tules who are gigantic and are absolute units, have more sparse speckling on their bellies and a giant, more chocolate brown head (bottom photo, bottom goose).
Tules have an estimated population of 10,000-15,000 and almost exclusively nest in the Cook Inlet, Alaska and winter in California’s Sacramento Valley.
California biologists closely monitor the tule population and put collars on a small subset to track their movements and assess abundance (blue collar in photo).