Cackling Goose

Cackling Goose in the standing water in a field slightly in front of a very similar looking Canada Goose.
Cackling Goose, Bosque del Apache NWR, San Antonio, NM, November 10, 2022
Canon EOS R5 with Canon 100-500 mm L-series lens with 1.4x Teleconverter; 700 mm; ISO-1000; f/11; 1/1000 sec.

This page is for the Cackling Goose (Branta hutchinsii). This bird (foreground) is almost always mistaken for a Canada Goose (background) and they were considered the same species until 2004 when they were differentiated through genetic analysis (Griffiths, 2017). This one may actually be a Canada Goose, but the Merlin app kept identifying is at a Cackling Goose, so I looked deeper, and I think the description of a Cackling Goose seems to fit based on what I have read and comparative pictures I have seen. Some differences of the Cackling Goose are a more rounded head, shorter and thicker neck, smaller bill, a white neck collar, smaller and shorter body, and a shorter wing length (the wings do not fully cover the tail feathers like they do with the Canada Goose behind it).