The genus name Branta is a Latinised form of Old Norse Brandgás, "burnt (black) goose", and the specific epithet hutchinsii commemorates English surgeon Thomas Hutchins who was employed by the Hudson's Bay Company.

Measurements:[4] This species is native to North America, breeding in Northern Canada and Alaska in a variety of tundra habitats, where the nest is usually located in an elevated area near water.

Depending on the region, potential threats may vary from free-ranging domestic or feral cats and dogs, to foxes, coyotes, rats and other animals, such as some species of snakes.

Like most geese, the cackling goose is naturally migratory, with their overwintering range being most of the U.S. (locally in Western Canada, the West Coast of the U.S. and northern Mexico).

The calls overheard from large flocks of cackling geese, flying in their typical "V"-shaped formation, signal the transitions into spring and fall.

As vagrants, cackling geese have reached Western Europe of their own accord, as has been proven by ringing recoveries and documented sightings.

Cackling geese are also found, naturally, as vagrants around the Kamchatka Peninsula in Far Eastern Russia (Siberia), East China, and throughout the islands of Japan.

When feeding in water, they submerge their heads and necks to reach aquatic plants, sometimes tipping forward like a dabbling duck.