• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic note

Branta canadensis (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) was previously split as B. canadensis and B. hutchinsii following AOU (2004), and before then lumped as B. canadensis following Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993).

Taxonomic source(s)
Christidis, L. and Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2018	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2006	Least Concern
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	23,300,000 km2	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	12,800,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	poor	estimated	2012
Population trend	increasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	10.5 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population is estimated at c. 5,000,000-6,200,000 individuals (Wetlands International 2015). The European population is estimated at 1,000-5,000 pairs, which equates to 2,000-10,000 mature individuals (BirdLife International 2015).

Trend justification: The overall population trend is increasing, although some populations may be stable and some are decreasing (Wetlands International 2015). This species has undergone a large and statistically significant increase over the last 40 years in North America (1500% increase over 40 years, equating to a 101% increase per decade; data for Branta canadensis and B. hutchinsii combined, from Breeding Bird Survey and/or Christmas Bird Count: Butcher and Niven 2007). The European population is estimated to be increasing (BirdLife International 2015).

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Australia	extant	vagrant
Austria	extant	introduced
Bahamas	extant	native
Belarus	extant	vagrant			yes
Belgium	extant	introduced	yes
Bermuda (to UK)	extant	vagrant
Bulgaria	extant	vagrant
Canada	extant	native	yes			yes
Cayman Islands (to UK)	extant	native
Cuba	extant	native
Czechia	extant	introduced
Denmark	extant	introduced	yes			yes
Faroe Islands (to Denmark)	extant	introduced		yes
Finland	extant	introduced		yes
France	extant	introduced			yes
Germany	extant	introduced	yes
Greenland (to Denmark)	extant	native		yes
Haiti	extant	native
Iceland	extant	vagrant
Jamaica	extant	vagrant
Japan	extant	vagrant
Kiribati	extant	vagrant
Latvia	extant	vagrant	yes
Liechtenstein	extant	vagrant
Lithuania	extant	vagrant			yes
Luxembourg	extant	vagrant			yes
Marshall Islands	extant	vagrant
Mexico	extant	native
Netherlands	extant	introduced	yes
New Zealand	extant	introduced		yes
North Korea	extant	vagrant
Norway	extant	introduced	yes
Poland	extant	introduced			yes
Portugal	extant	vagrant
Puerto Rico (to USA)	extant	native
Russia	extant	introduced
Russia (Asian)	extant	vagrant
Russia (Central Asian)	extant	vagrant
Russia (European)	extant	introduced
Slovakia	extant	vagrant
Slovenia	extant	vagrant
South Korea	extant	vagrant
Spain	extant	vagrant
St Pierre and Miquelon (to France)	extant	native	yes			yes
Sweden	extant	introduced	yes
Turks and Caicos Islands (to UK)	extant	native
Ukraine	extant	introduced
United Kingdom	extant	introduced	yes
USA	extant	native		yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Canada	Eastern Lake St. Clair
Canada	Galloway and Miry Bay
Canada	Grant's Lake WMA
Canada	North, West, and East Shoal Lakes
Canada	Oak Hammock Marsh WMA
Canada	Plaine inondable de Saint-Barthélemy
USA	Lac Qui Parle - Big Stone IBA

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Excavations (open)	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Excavations (open)	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Urban Areas	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Urban Areas	suitable	breeding
Grassland	Temperate	suitable	breeding
Grassland	Tundra	major	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	major	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	major	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Saline, Brackish or Alkaline Marshes/Pools	suitable	non-breeding
Altitude	0 - 2000 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Climate change & severe weather	Habitat shifting & alteration	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Future		Whole (>90%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Indirect ecosystem effects, Ecosystem degradation

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international
Sport hunting/specimen collecting	subsistence, national

---

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Canada Goose Branta canadensis. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/canada-goose-branta-canadensis on 22/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 22/12/2024.