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Snow Goose

Snow Goose

Anser caerulescens

Identify the Snow Goose by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

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The Snow Goose is a North American goose best known for its two colour forms: the classic white “snow” and the darker “blue” morph. It breeds on Arctic tundra from Greenland and Canada to Alaska and north-eastern Siberia and migrates in vast, noisy flocks to winter in milder parts of North America south to Mexico. It is a rare vagrant to Europe, where escapes from collections also occur.

Did you know?

  • The dark blue morph is controlled by a single dominant gene.
  • Snow Goose flocks are so vocal that they can be heard more than a mile away.

Voice

Sound

About the species

Identification

The white morph is all white with black wing tips and a pink bill with a dark “grinning patch”; the blue morph is dark grey-brown with a white head and neck. Legs are pink. Told from Ross's Goose by larger size and a longer bill with the black grinning patch.

Family

Anatidae

Size

Very large (swan)

Colours

white, black, red

About the habitat

Breeds on Arctic tundra north of the treeline. In winter it uses coastal marshes, grasslands and extensive farmland.

Diet

Plant material: it grazes grasses and sedges, digs up roots and rhizomes in coastal marshes with its strong bill and feeds in farmland on spilled grain and green shoots.

Behaviour

Highly gregarious and very vocal, travelling in large, coordinated flocks along traditional flyways. Pairs form long-term bonds, females return to their natal areas, and it breeds in colonies; both parents guard the self-feeding young.

Sources

Photo: Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Snow goose in Central Park (33138).jpg

Sound: Lütgens, Hans, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chen_caerulescens_Lue0063_01.wav

Text: Wikipedia (English), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_goose

See also