It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a new breed of goose in Labrador!

Researchers in Happy Valley-Goose Bay are taking a gander at a potential new breed of goose, the lesser goose.

The breed got its name from its size, as it's smaller or lesser than your typical Canada Goose.

"We're trying to figure out where these lesser geese are coming from, so in order to figure that out we need to sort of narrow down our region first,"said Regina Wells, a researcher with Environment Canada.

Wells said they're trying to use the geese's heads to figure outwhat the species could be.

Young or just small?

In 2014 they launched what's called a "wing bee," for hunters to submit wingsfrom their harvests across Labradorto Environment Canada to research.

"The first thing to actually do is not just look at the head, but to look at the tail and feathers, and also the wings as well, because the first step is actually to age it," Wells said.

Determining its age based on feather maturity and signature marks allows researchers to tell whether it's a young goose or a fully grown, but petite,goose.

"This is the one that was only 91 millimetres, so this is a possibility that this could have been a hybrid goose, and it could be a species that we might call cackling goose, but it's only one sample. We need many more samples to confirm because so far we have very little that are this small," Wells said.

"So this year we're hoping to get lots more heads so we can start to measure, because then you have to compare this one to this big goose head," she said.

Nunatsiavut, NunatuKavutand Innu Nation have partnered with the project.

"The information will belong to each indigenous group that participates," said Wells.

A collector's job

Ron Webb collects thosewings, tail fans, and heads along the coastin Nain.He's working with Carla Pamak, a research advisor with the Nunatsiavutgovernment.

"They're really small, but they're the same colour, and if you're at a distance it's hard to tell the difference," Webb said.

"Some are just the size of a black duck."

Webb first encountered alesser goose more than 10 years ago.

"They're a godsend to us, because ever since the spring hunt started here on geese and ducks in our traditional hunting places, the numbers have gone down dramatically," Webb said.

"It'd be good to find out where they come from and their numbers, because we don't want them to go the way of the caribou," he added.

In Labrador, there are restrictions on hunting herds of caribouthat are close to extinction.

"With caribou gone, we have to depend on things like partridges, arctic hares, ducksand geese," Webb said.

Could be climate change

For the Nunatsiavutgovernment, the research is a numbers game on how many of these birds are there and whetherit's feasible to keep harvesting them.

"It's just to get numbers of what is out there," said research advisor Carla Pamak.

Whether it's climate change or other circumstances, they are trying to find the point of origin for these lesser geese.

"We're not sure what brought them here, but we're trying to understand," she said.

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