Canada Goose split and addition of Cackling Goose to the Irish List, October 2009.

The third report of the Taxonomic Sub-Committee of the BOU Records Committee (TSC) was published in Ibis in 2005 (Sangster et al 2005). At that time the IRBC incorporated any relevant recommendations in the report to the Irish List. In addition the report referred to phylogeographical analyses and morphometric study of the Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) complex which highlighted taxonomic differences between its large and small forms. As a result the TSC concluded that both forms are best treated as separate species, i.e. Canada Goose and Cackling Goose (Branta hutchinsii). These findings now have relevance to the Irish List following the publication of the 2007 Irish Rare Bird Report which includes the first record of a small form of Canada Goose in Ireland at Kinnegar Shore, Co. Down on the 13th September 2007. The IRBC adopts the recommendations of the TSC in splitting Canada Goose and adds Cackling Goose as a category A species to the Irish List. The report should be consulted for the full exposition of the TSC's decisions.

A PDF version of the latest Irish List may be downloaded here.

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