BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Birds Canada Geese Question

I have several Canada geese that come around my backyard. The males and females seem to be identical. I was wondering; is there any way to differentiate the males from the females? A long time ago I heard that there is no way to tell the difference. Are the males bigger than the females? I appreciate any input on this quandary. Thank you. Sincerely, moose

Canadian Geese have a wide size range to begin with. Yes, the female might be smaller but it might be larger. There's really no way to tell unless there's a family around, the male tends to defend and the female tends to watch the chicks. But even then they share duties.

Good question Moose, but I'm afraid I don't have any answers for you on that. My guess is that you can't visually sex them, but I could be wrong on that. Maybe, Lisa our birding expert will come over to this board & answer you question.

Hi Lisa - guess we were both writing our answers at the same time. :rolling:

Lisa & Mavis, Thank you for the quick response and trying to answer my question. Males, females, goslings,big or small, I just love them all! Sincerely, moose

With ducks I can usually tell the males from females by several differences---one being that the males have a little curled up bit of feathers at the end of their tails and the females tails point down--don't know if this pertains to geese too! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />