Snow Goose - BirdForum Opus

Photo © by gophish
Cohoes, New York, United States 5 October, 2012

Anser caerulescens

Identification

Adult, blue morph
Photo © by Pauhana
Twin Lakes, Brandon, Florida, United States,
9 December 2012

66–84 cm (26-33 in)

• Entirely white except black primaries
• Head and neck usually stained rusty brown
• Pink bill with grin patch
• Dark adults have black bodies with white necks and heads, juveniles dark all over. All intermediates possible.

Similar Species

Separating from Ross's Goose - Snow Goose has longer neck and bill. Ross's Goose has short neck and stubby bill that lacks grin patch.

Distribution

Extreme northern Arctic in summer. Winters in Southern U.S. and Mexico, notably along coasts, but also at inland marshy reserves.

Taxonomy

Juvenile
Photo © by Craig Thayer
Green Valley, Arizona, 31 December 2020

Formerly placed in the genus Chen.

Subspecies

There are two recognized subspecies.^[1]

• A. c. caerulescens
  • Breeds and winters around the Pacific Ocean
• A. c. atlanticus
  • Breeds and winters on land bordering western Atlantic Ocean

Habitat

Photo © by richard bledsoe
New Mexico, USA, 10 November 2005

Nests on Arctic tundra in large colonies. Migrates southward in winter to marshy areas with adjacent fields.

Behaviour

Highly gregarious; nest, migrate, and forage in large flocks. Noisy, especially on takeoff. Fly in large V formations.

Diet

Juvenile, dark morph
Photo © by Stanley Jones
Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge, Grayson County, Texas, USA, 17 November 2017

Their diet is mainly vegetarian, consisting of roots, tubers, leaves, grasses, stems and seed heads from a variety of aquatic plants. They also eat grain in the winter time.

Movements

Migratory.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Mowbray, T. B., F. Cooke, and B. Ganter (2020). Snow Goose (Anser caerulescens), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (P. G. Rodewald, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.snogoo.01
3. BF Member Observations

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Snow Goose. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 20 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Snow_Goose

External Links

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