Now that the American Ornithologists Union (A.O.U.) has split the Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) into two species (Banks et al. 2004) field birders are faced with the not inconsiderable problem of telling the two apart. This identification issue is especially challenging for birders in the West, where a number of races of both species occur. Of the four subspecies that now constitute the Cackling Goose (Branta hutchinsii), the nominate Richardson’s Cackling Goose (B. h. hutchinsii) is almost unknown west of the Rocky Mountains (A.O.U. 1957), while the diminutive and very dark Cackling Goose proper (B. h. minima) is unlikely to be mistaken for any form of the Canada Goose. The Aleutian Cackling Goose (B. h. leucopareia) has features, such as a complete white ring at the base of the black neck, that make identification of most individuals straightforward.