Snow Goose

The Snow Goose is a striking white goose with crisp black wingtips, best known for forming enormous, densely packed flocks that can number in the tens or even hundreds of thousands during migration. A less common dark form, historically called the "Blue Goose," has a mostly slate-gray body with a white head, and both color morphs can occur within the same flock and even the same family.

Snow Geese breed on Arctic tundra and undertake long migrations to wintering grounds on marshes and agricultural fields farther south, where their arrival in vast, noisy flocks is one of the great spectacles of North American birding.

Key field marks

• White body with black wingtips (visible in flight), pink bill with a dark 'grinning patch' along the edge, pink legs
• Dark ('blue') morph: mostly gray-brown body with a white head, same bill and leg color
• Travels in large, dense flocks, often flying in long, wavering lines or masses rather than tight Vs

Similar species

The Ross's Goose is smaller with a shorter, stubbier bill lacking the obvious dark grinning patch, and a more rounded head; the two species can occur together and require careful size and bill comparison to separate. Adult Snow Geese are much larger and bulkier than Ross's Goose.

Snow Geese breed in dense colonies on Arctic tundra across northern Canada, Alaska, Greenland, and parts of Russia, nesting on the ground near wetlands. They are highly migratory, wintering in huge flocks on coastal marshes, agricultural fields, and wetlands across the central and coastal United States and parts of Mexico, often staging in large numbers at key stopover wetlands along the way.

Behavior

Extremely gregarious, Snow Geese form some of the largest flocks of any North American bird, feeding, roosting, and migrating together in dense masses; explosive mass takeoffs are a dramatic spectacle at major wintering sites.

Voice

Loud and constant in large flocks, giving a nasal, barking 'houk' call that creates a continuous chorus when thousands of birds are together.

Feeding

Grasses, sedges, roots, and waste grain in agricultural fields; flocks can significantly alter marsh vegetation through intensive grubbing for roots and rhizomes.

Nesting

Nests in dense colonies on Arctic tundra; clutches typically hold 3-5 eggs, and goslings are led to feeding areas soon after hatching.