General

Snow Goose: Large goose with two color phases. White phase is all white with black wing tips. Blue phase has white head and neck, blue-gray upperparts, gray-brown breast and sides, and white belly. Bill is pink with black lower mandible. Legs and feet are pink. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has brown head and neck, and gray bill.

Range and Habitat

Snow Goose: Breeds in the Arctic regions of North America and extreme eastern Siberia. In the west, spends winters on the Pacific coast from southern British Columbia south to Baja California; also mid-Atlantic coast and the Gulf Coast from Mississippi to Texas. Breeds on tundra; wintering habitats include salt marshes and marshy coastal bays and also freshwater marshes and adjacent grain fields.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"bow-wow", "honk-honk"

Interesting Facts

 During migration the Snow Goose flies so high it can barely be seen. They form shifting curved lines and arcs as they fly.

 Hunters call these birds “Wavies.” The name in derived from the Chippewa name for this bird, wewe.  

 During the summer their heads’ are often stained red as a result of gathering food in mud containing iron oxides.

 A group of geese has many collective nouns, including a "blizzard", "chevron", "knot", "plump", and "string" of geese.

Author

Gary Owen Dick