Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Robert Howson
Tuesday, January 6, 2026
There are those among us who feel it is their life’s calling to bring about change. They devote long hours to intensive study of the Scriptures; they employ the soundest hermeneutical principles and exercise the most rigorous tenets of logic to firmly establish their position. They are right. Strangely enough, they have their mirror image representing the opposing side, those who believe it is incumbent upon them to protect the established truth from being eroded away by creeping relativism at all costs. They employ the same sacred writings, and display the same devotion to their divinely appointed task.
Should we go back just a few years, everyone would have agreed what we have shown here is the image of a Canada Goose. But things have changed. Today, those in the know would identify it as a Cackling Goose. True, it still has the identifying black head and neck of the Canada with the accompanying white chinstrap, but its overall size is more diminutive and its voice is higher. They were classified as a single species until 2004 with a variety of subspecies. Today, based upon genetic differences, there are five regional subspecies of Cackling alone.
The question remains: Does it really make any difference? The answer depends upon who you’re asking. To the taxonomist whose mission it is to add clarity and definition to the subject one would get a resounding “yes”! For listers, like myself, it provides an opportunity to darken in another square on the checklist. But to the geese? Probably not a feather. They continue being the geese they always were, and happy to do so.