This is a scarce visitor to our area. They are locally abundant in winter in the Central Valley of California from breeding grounds in the High Arctic. This one was associating loosely with Canada Geese grazing on an urban golf course lawn. Note the gray smudging on its head and back indicating an immature hatched this year. This species is famous for polymorphism controlled by a single gene. Dark morph birds (formerly called Blue Geese) are most common in the mid-continent while white morph birds, such as this, predominate in the far west and east coast. At close range one can see a series of vertical grooves or furrows on the side of the neck formed by pointed feathers. These furrows are said to be more extensive on males. Note the rather large bill with a noticeable gap between the mandibles. This helps distinguish the larger Snow Goose from the similar but smaller Ross's Goose which lacks this gap. Often called a "grin patch," to me it does not look like a grin; it looks the opposite, more like a sneer or scowl. Formerly placed in the genus "Chen" but joined "Anser" in 2017 (58th supplement).
