California's Great Goose Lineup: Snow Geese
Change is in the air. Literally, in the air, on the wing, migrating in our direction. Very soon, the weather will shift and our local forecast will call for something new: snow in the Central Valley!
Flocks of thousands of Snow Geese (Anser caerulescens) are on their way south along the Pacific Flyway, following ancient migratory paths from their breeding grounds in the Arctic to the comparatively mild wetlands of California's Great Central Valley where they will spend the winter. While the Valley only rarely sees an actual snowfall, the decent of breathtakingly large flocks of white Snow Geese are an annual phenomenon, which I am so thankful we still get to witness.
Snow Geese are medium-distance migrants, following narrow pathways nearly due south from their breeding ranges, stopping at the same staging areas and overwintering grounds year after year. According to Cornell's All About Birds, some Snow Geese that spend winter in the western U.S. breed in Siberia.
During the summer months, Snow Geese nest on the Arctic tundra in Alaska and Canada, often within a few miles of the coast. Nests, shallow depressions filled with a bowl of plant material and lined with down, are usually constructed by the female on small hummocks of ground for increased visibility of predators. The substantial nests may be from three to six feet in diameter! A female Snow Goose will lay an average of 2 to 6 eggs, which she incubates for 22 to 24 days while her mate guards the nest from predators. And predators of goose eggs and young are many! Cornell's All About Birds lists "arctic and red foxes, Glaucous Gulls, Herring Gulls, Parasitic Jeagers, caribou, polar and black bears, gray wolves, Common Ravens, Long-tailed Jeagers, and Snowy Owls" as predators of eggs and nestlings, adding that foxes, wolves, bears, Golden Eagles and Bald Eagles hunt adult geese during the breeding season.
Young Snow Geese are capable of walking and feeding themselves within hours of hatching, and family groups may travel for many miles on foot in search of food. Young fledge, or begin to fly, around 50 days old and stay with their family groups for their first few years of life. Snow Geese begin breeding when they are three years old, and it is believed that they mate for life, which may be 15 to 20 years or more.
While the majority of Snow Geese are white with black wingtips, some are "blue," or dark gray-brown, with white heads. This color morph is known as a "Blue Goose," and was once thought to be a different species. Research indicates that color is controlled by a single gene, and the dark morph is slightly dominant so that if a "blue goose" and a white goose mate, their offspring will be dark. I also read (fascinating stuff, this) that a Snow Goose will choose a mate of the same color morph as that of the family members they grew up with. Presumably, this could mean that a white goose with dark parents and siblings (which can happen) would choose a dark mate, perpetuating the gene.
Snow Geese are hefty birds, standing around 2.5 feet tall, with 4.5 foot wingspans; an adult goose can weigh just over 7 pounds. They are largely vegetarians, feeding on grasses, forbs and grains.
As quite large birds, Snow Geese were a dependable winter food source for Native people of the Central Valley, many of which moved down from the mountains during the cold months to enjoy the Valley's milder climate and abundance of winter food. In fact, Snow Geese are still so abundant - one of the most abundant species of waterfowl on the continent - about 400,000 individuals are hunted each year in the United States and Canada in an effort to keep their numbers in check. (Warmer conditions on their breeding grounds may contribute to larger populations, and an overabundance of geese compromises their own breeding habitat, as well as that of nesting shorebirds that share the same habitat. Essentially, too many geese overgraze the land, denuding it of vegetation and churning up the soil as they grub enthusiastically for their food.)
While I personally can't fathom killing one of these magnificent creatures in modern times, Snow Geese are still widely hunted and I have grown to be grateful of sportsmen who have taken the initiative and borne much of the cost in restoring and protecting wetland habitat in order to ensure the continued success of our overwintering goose populations.
And so, as we draw near to the end of October, I look forward to shooting these birds with my camera this season! Keep an eye out for large flocks of Snow Geese in Valley wetlands and prepare to be amazed as giant, deafening flocks take flight in one snowy white mass. What a sight to behold! One of my favorite places to visit is Merced National Wildlife Refuge, where their numbers really peak in December and January: our one opportunity for a snowy winter! (In January, the annual snow goose festival will be held in the Chico/Sacramento Valley area.)
Check out this article from a few years ago about flurries of geese and how watching them is a little like the sensation of being inside a snow globe!
Flocks of thousands of Snow Geese (Anser caerulescens) are on their way south along the Pacific Flyway, following ancient migratory paths from their breeding grounds in the Arctic to the comparatively mild wetlands of California's Great Central Valley where they will spend the winter. While the Valley only rarely sees an actual snowfall, the decent of breathtakingly large flocks of white Snow Geese are an annual phenomenon, which I am so thankful we still get to witness.
Snow Geese are medium-distance migrants, following narrow pathways nearly due south from their breeding ranges, stopping at the same staging areas and overwintering grounds year after year. According to Cornell's All About Birds, some Snow Geese that spend winter in the western U.S. breed in Siberia.
During the summer months, Snow Geese nest on the Arctic tundra in Alaska and Canada, often within a few miles of the coast. Nests, shallow depressions filled with a bowl of plant material and lined with down, are usually constructed by the female on small hummocks of ground for increased visibility of predators. The substantial nests may be from three to six feet in diameter! A female Snow Goose will lay an average of 2 to 6 eggs, which she incubates for 22 to 24 days while her mate guards the nest from predators. And predators of goose eggs and young are many! Cornell's All About Birds lists "arctic and red foxes, Glaucous Gulls, Herring Gulls, Parasitic Jeagers, caribou, polar and black bears, gray wolves, Common Ravens, Long-tailed Jeagers, and Snowy Owls" as predators of eggs and nestlings, adding that foxes, wolves, bears, Golden Eagles and Bald Eagles hunt adult geese during the breeding season.
Young Snow Geese are capable of walking and feeding themselves within hours of hatching, and family groups may travel for many miles on foot in search of food. Young fledge, or begin to fly, around 50 days old and stay with their family groups for their first few years of life. Snow Geese begin breeding when they are three years old, and it is believed that they mate for life, which may be 15 to 20 years or more.
While the majority of Snow Geese are white with black wingtips, some are "blue," or dark gray-brown, with white heads. This color morph is known as a "Blue Goose," and was once thought to be a different species. Research indicates that color is controlled by a single gene, and the dark morph is slightly dominant so that if a "blue goose" and a white goose mate, their offspring will be dark. I also read (fascinating stuff, this) that a Snow Goose will choose a mate of the same color morph as that of the family members they grew up with. Presumably, this could mean that a white goose with dark parents and siblings (which can happen) would choose a dark mate, perpetuating the gene.
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| The dark color morph of the Snow Goose, known as a "Blue Goose" |
Snow Geese are hefty birds, standing around 2.5 feet tall, with 4.5 foot wingspans; an adult goose can weigh just over 7 pounds. They are largely vegetarians, feeding on grasses, forbs and grains.
As quite large birds, Snow Geese were a dependable winter food source for Native people of the Central Valley, many of which moved down from the mountains during the cold months to enjoy the Valley's milder climate and abundance of winter food. In fact, Snow Geese are still so abundant - one of the most abundant species of waterfowl on the continent - about 400,000 individuals are hunted each year in the United States and Canada in an effort to keep their numbers in check. (Warmer conditions on their breeding grounds may contribute to larger populations, and an overabundance of geese compromises their own breeding habitat, as well as that of nesting shorebirds that share the same habitat. Essentially, too many geese overgraze the land, denuding it of vegetation and churning up the soil as they grub enthusiastically for their food.)
While I personally can't fathom killing one of these magnificent creatures in modern times, Snow Geese are still widely hunted and I have grown to be grateful of sportsmen who have taken the initiative and borne much of the cost in restoring and protecting wetland habitat in order to ensure the continued success of our overwintering goose populations.
And so, as we draw near to the end of October, I look forward to shooting these birds with my camera this season! Keep an eye out for large flocks of Snow Geese in Valley wetlands and prepare to be amazed as giant, deafening flocks take flight in one snowy white mass. What a sight to behold! One of my favorite places to visit is Merced National Wildlife Refuge, where their numbers really peak in December and January: our one opportunity for a snowy winter! (In January, the annual snow goose festival will be held in the Chico/Sacramento Valley area.)
Check out this article from a few years ago about flurries of geese and how watching them is a little like the sensation of being inside a snow globe!
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