Identification

If you do see a white goose, you must first of all check that it isn’t just a ‘farmyard-type’ Greylag Goose. Snow Geese are smaller, more like the size of a Pink-foot, with smaller bills and, characteristically, black primary feathers, visible even at rest. Before you can claim it as a Snow Goose you also have to make sure it isn’t an escaped Ross’s Goose which is equally white but is even smaller with a particularly small ‘cute-looking’ bill. If you see a bird which has the head of a Snow goose but a mostly grey-brown body, blue-grey wings and black primaries it is still a Snow Goose but of the darker morph, usually called Blue Goose.

Habitat

Usually seen grazing in fields or roosting on estuaries.

Migration

Arctic breeders as a far over as Greenland winter on the Atlantic coast of America from Maryland to North Carolina.

This information is taken from the BirdFile on the appropriate BirdGuides DVD-ROM. As well as video and sounds, our CD- and DVD-ROMs contain additional text on Voice, Sexing, Ageing, Food, Nests and Eggs and more.

For the purposes of our bird news services, Snow Goose is classed as Scarce: broadly speaking, species that are covered in British Birds' annual review of scarce species (and forms of similar rarity).

Holy Is., Northumbs 13/05/2010	Pulborough Brooks, W Sussex 25/04/2010	Pulborough Brooks, W Sussex 02/05/2010	Eyebrook Resr, Leics 01/05/2010	Pulborough Brooks, W Sussex 12/04/2010
Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary, British Columbia, Canada 10/04/2010	Leighton Moss, Lancs 21/03/2010	Leighton Moss, Lancs 08/03/2010	Leighton Moss, Lancs 08/03/2010	Leighton Moss, Lancs 08/03/2010

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Snow Goose breeds in the following countries (Bird News Extra subscribers will see population statistics and information on trends for each country):

Greenland

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	Winter Geese: Part 1 - The 'grey geese' (Full Text)	Tuesday 10th February 2004
	The 'grey geese' can provide some headaches when it comes to identifying them to race or species. Find out more about where these birds come from and what they look like – Tundra or Taiga, Eurasian or Greenland?

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