Snow Goose
Chen caerulescens
Description - The Snow Goose is smaller than the
domestic goose and averages a height of 25-31 inches.
It is pure white with black wing tips, it's bill is pink
with black "lips" and the legs are pink. A variety of
the same species, but which has a dark phase, have spread
westward in recent decades and is called the "Blue Goose".
It's upperparts are a bluish-grey and the underparts are
brownish.
Distribution - The snow goose breeds in the Arctic
regions of North America on the tundra and winters on
the Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia to Baja
California in salt marshes and marshy coastal bays; less
commonly in freshwater marshes and adjacent grainfields.
Biology
- During the long spring migration the snow goose pauses
on prairie marshes where it builds up a good fat reserve
as fresh plant shoots are scarce in the far north. All
winter this goose grazes fields and marshes. These birds
spend nights resting on open waters. The snow goose nest
in colonies in a nest sparsely lines with down; each nest
contains 4-8 white eggs.
