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Snow Goose
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| Snow Goose ©
G. C. Kelley Courtesy of eNature |
Species
description provided by eNature
Description
25-31" (64-79 cm). Smaller than the domestic goose. Pure white
with black wing tips; bill pink with black "lips"; legs
pink. Young birds have dark bill and are mottled with brownish gray
above. A dark phase, once considered a separate species called the
"Blue Goose," has bluish-gray upperparts, brownish underparts,
and white head and neck. Blue-phase birds have spread westward in
recent decades and are now found locally throughout their winter
range among the thousands of white Snow Geese.
Voice
A high-pitched, barking bow-wow! or howk-howk!
Habitat
Breeds on the tundra and winters in salt marshes and marshy coastal
bays; less commonly in freshwater marshes and adjacent grainfields.
Nesting
4-8 white eggs in a nest sparsely lined with down on the tundra.
Nests in colonies.
Range
Breeds in Arctic regions of North America and extreme eastern Siberia.
In the West, winters on Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia
south to Baja California; also mid-Atlantic Coast and Gulf Coast
from Mississippi to Texas. In smaller numbers in interior.
Discussion
Snow Geese migrate long distances, sometimes flying so high that
they can barely be seen. Even at this distance, however, they can
often be identified by the shifting curved lines and arcs they form
as they fly. Hunters call these birds "Wavies," but not
because of the shape of their flocks; the word is derived from wewe,
the Chippewa name for the species. In the Far North fresh plant
shoots are scarce in early spring, but the geese arrive with good
fat reserves, built up from plants consumed on prairie marshes where
they pause during their long spring migration. Snow Geese graze
fields and marshes of Pacific coastal areas and the Southwest all
winter. The largest concentrations are in California's Central Valley
and along the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana. As they do elsewhere,
these birds spend the night resting on open water.
