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Ross's Goose

Chen rossiiOrder: ANSERIFORMESFamily: Geese and Ducks (Anatidae)

Ross's Goose Portrait
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General

Ross's Goose: Small, white goose with black primary feathers, stubby gray-based red-orange bill, and red-orange legs and feet. Female is similar but smaller.

Range and Habitat

Ross's Goose: Breeds on tundra in northeastern Mackenzie and on Southampton Island in Hudson Bay. Spends winters mainly in California, but now occurs in increasing numbers in the lower Mississippi Valley and on the east coast. Found in salt and freshwater marshes during winter.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"kug", "kek-kek", "ke-gak, ke-gak"

Interesting Facts

  • The Ross’s Goose was first reported as the “Horned Wavey” by the explorer Samuel Hearne during his travels to the central Canadian Arctic between 1770 and 1771, it was not described for science until almost a century later (Cassin 1861).
  • Its nesting grounds remained unknown for another 80 years until Angus Gavin located them in the Perry River region of the central Canadian Arctic in 1940.
  • Their population has increased from a recorded low of 2,000–3,000 in the early 1950s to an estimated global population of 1,100,000 individuals.
  • A group of geese has many collective nouns, including a "blizzard", "chevron", "knot", "plump", and "string" of geese.


Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Ross's Goose
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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family
Species Chen rossii
Length21 - 26 Inches
Wingspan50.5 Inches

Ross's Goose

Ross's Goose: Small, white goose with black primary feathers and stubby gray-based red-orange bill. Red-orange legs and feet. Eats mostly fresh grasses and grains, often in the company of Snow Geese. Rapid direct flight with strong wing beats. Flies in a V formation. North America's smallest goose.

● Song: "kug", "kek-kek", "ke-gak, ke-gak"

● Foraging & Feeding: Ross's Goose: Feeds on grass, sedges, and small grains, particularly waste wheat and barley during winter months.

● Breeding & nesting: Ross's Goose: Four or five white eggs are laid on the ground in a grass nest lined with down and built on a small lake or river island; nests in loose colonies. Incubation ranges from 21 to 24 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Ross's Goose: White morph Snow Goose is larger and has black patch on bill.

Flight Pattern

Rapid direct flight.
Ross's Goose Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Ross's Goose: Breeds on tundra in northeastern Mackenzie and on Southampton Island in Hudson Bay. Spends winters mainly in California, but now occurs in increasing numbers in the lower Mississippi Valley and on the east coast. Found in salt and freshwater marshes during winter.
BreedingMonogamous, Colonial
PopulationRare to uncommon
MigrationMigratory
Weight59.2 Ounces