The first edition of The Giant Canada Goose summarized the history and rediscovery of a supposedly extinct subspecies of Canada goose—the locally nesting goose familiar to the early farmers and naturalists of the Midwest and eastern plains. In this edition, Harold C. Hanson brings us up-to-date.
Goose expert Hanson recounted in the first edition what we then knew about the biology of this regional social population of the giant Canada goose, which now numbers over a million as a result of federal and state restoration programs. In fact, in many areas, the nonmigrational population is sufficiently numerous to be regarded as a pest, especially in suburban areas.
In his preface to the first edition, Hanson notes that his study "is not just a review of what is known of a supposed extinct race of Canada geese but is an attempt to summarize our knowledge of a race still moderately abundant in parts of the prairie provinces of Canada and in some areas of the United States."
Hanson notes in the preface to this revision that in a completed, comprehensive study of the taxonomy and evolution of the white-cheeked geese, the giant Canada goose will be recognized as a separate species (the giant prairie goose, Branta maxima), which in turn is comprised of seven well-defined subspecies.
After outlining the history of the rediscovery of the giant Canada goose, Hanson describes its physical characteristics, breeding range, migration patterns, wintering grounds, and nesting patterns. He includes seventy-four illustrations, thirty-one tables, two morphometric diagrams, and eleven feather mineral profiles.
