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 eastern Siberia. In the west, winters on the Pacific coast from southern British Columbia 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 grain fields.

Breeding and Nesting

Snow Goose: Three to five white eggs are laid in a ground nest sparsely lined with down; nests in colonies on tundra. Incubation ranges from 23 to 25 days and is carried out by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Snow Goose: Diet consists of salt grass, wild millet, spikerush, feathergrass, panic grass, seashore paspalum, delta duck potato, bulrush, cordgrass, cattail, ryegrass, and wild rice; cultivated rice is a very important food on wintering grounds in Texas and Louisiana.

Vocalization

Snow Goose: Emits a high-pitched, barking "bow-wow" or "howk-howk."

Similar Species

Snow Goose: Domesticated barnyard goose lacks black primaries and usually has orange bill. Ross's Goose is smaller with stubbier, entirely pink bill; juvenile is paler than juvenile Snow Goose.