barnacle goose 
noun
A goose with a white face and black neck, breeding in the arctic tundra of Greenland, Spitsbergen, and Novaya Zemlya.
- Branta leucopsis, family Anatidae.
- For instance, detailed study of the DNA of the barnacle goose has located its origin on a twig of the Canada goose's family tree.
- So the barnacle goose and the small Canada geese were more closely related to each other than the small Canada goose was to the large Canada goose.
Origin
Mid 18th century: see barnacle.