 Breeding evidence |
 Relative abundance |
 Probability of observation |
Click for a larger version or to add map overlays |
||
Click on plot to view table of mean abundance
|
Number of squares
Long-term BBS trends
|
8.87 (7.06 - 10.6)|
Mean abundance (number of birds detected per 5 min. point count) and percentage of squares occupied by region Bird Conservation Regions [abund. plot]
[%squares plot]
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Atlas Results
Canada Geese were found from corner to corner across the province in 1,729 squares. They were prevalent south of the boreal forest, at home wherever there was suitable grazing and nearby water for refuge. They were also common in parts of the southern and central boreal, with a patchy distribution further north. An early and easily spotted nester, nest building was observed as early as 11 April near Vanscoy, with the first brood seen as early as 8 May in Saskatoon.
Note: During all years of the Saskatchewan Breeding Bird Atlas drought conditions persisted and the Atlas range maps for all waterfowl, waterbirds, and wetland-associated species should be viewed as characteristic of distribution and abundance during dry conditions. Read the full drought statement here.
Excerpts Adapted from the Birds of Saskatchewan:
The Canada Goose is the most widely distributed goose in North America, and the only goose species that breeds south of the 49th parallel (Mowbray et al. 2002). Common before European settlement, its numbers diminished drastically with uncontrolled shooting and egg taking by early settlers, and later as land was plowed and many marshes were either drained or dried up in the 1930s drought. By 1945, the annual report of E. L. Paynter, Game Commissioner for Saskatchewan, told of consistent and widespread reports of "the scarcity of the Canada geese? (Paynter 1946). That scarcity was soon corrected. Breeds throughout much of Canada and the US and winters in the southern US and south into Mexico.
The Canada Goose breeds in a great variety of habitats throughout Saskatchewan. Its main requirements are open water for brood rearing, and grassland, freshly emerged agricultural crops, or manicured urban lawns for foraging. Breeding sites include borrow pits in heavily cultivated plains along busy highways, golf courses, and urban parks. In fall, staging birds use larger wetlands with cultivated fields for feeding, often in association with other geese.
Breeding Canada Geese became rare in southern Saskatchewan by the 1930s and 1940s (Houston and Anaka 2003). Today the Canada Goose is a common breeder throughout southern Saskatchewan and a few pairs are scattered throughout the northern forests.
Original text by C. Stuart Houston and R. Lorne Scott. Text adapted by Daniel J. Sawatzky
Read more about the Canada Goose in the Birds of Saskatchewan here.
Recommended citation: Latremouille, L. M. 2025. Canada Goose in Latremouille, L. M., S. L. Van Wilgenburg, C. B. Jardine, D. Lepage, A. R. Couturier, D. Evans, D. Iles, and K. L. Drake (eds.). 2025. The Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Saskatchewan, 2017-2021. Birds Canada. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan https://sk.birdatlas.ca/accounts/speciesaccount.jsp?sp=CANG&lang=en [09 Nov 2025]
| Previous species: | Table of Contents | Next species: Trumpeter Swan |