8 Facts About Snow Geese

General waterfowl seasons are almost over in most of North America, but there is one exception: the opportunity to hunt light geese. The conservation order on snow geese allows for an extended season into the spring months as well as regulations to make harvesting large numbers of geese more efficient for hunters. Stock up on your goose facts before heading out to chase these birds this spring!

• “Light Goose” is an umbrella term for two species of geese: Ross’s geese and snow geese. Within the global snow goose population, there are two recognized subspecies: the lesser and greater snow goose.

• Light geese aren’t just white. The lesser snow goose presents with two different color morphs: white and “blue”. The midcontinent population of lesser snow geese has the highest ratio of blue to white birds. The darker plumage in blue morph birds is related to the expression of a genetic allele. Adult blue geese have a dark body and a white head, and maintain the pink bill and feet found in all snow geese.

• Juvenile birds have different plumage than adults. While adult snow geese have either solid white (except for black wing tips) or dark feathers, juvenile birds will have a gray-brown color on their entire body. These birds are able to fly just 42-50 days after they hatch, and migrate thousands of miles with their parents from arctic breeding grounds down to their wintering grounds. 

• The light goose population has BOOMED in the latter half of the 20th century. While anthropogenic activity has a negative effect on many species, light geese appear to have benefitted. Around 1900, there were fewer than 10,000 birds (estimated) globally, and today biologists estimate there are more than 15 million birds, the highest numbers being lesser snow geese. 

• Changing agricultural practices in the United States have caused these shifts in snow goose populations. Snow geese clean up waste grain in fields in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Central Valley of California on their wintering grounds. Before these lands were buffets of nutritious grain, geese wintered in marshes along the Gulf of Mexico and ate natural vegetation matter. With the new food source of abundant, high-energy grains, snow goose populations have grown larger than they were historically. 

• Nesting snow goose populations have a heavy impact on their environment. Snow geese nest in large colonies along rivers and coastlines in arctic regions. The habitat in these areas historically had been wet sedge meadow habitat with vegetative cover. When dense populations of geese nest and feed in these environment, the tundra is converted to exposed peat that takes years to fully recover to its former vegetative communities. Geese nesting in these environments can reach densities of 1200 pairs per square mile, and use the vegetation for foraging and nest building. This habitat alteration is important because other arctic-nesting bird species use vertical cover for nesting, and insect communities that provide a food resource to these other bird species are also impacted. Large nesting colonies of geese can also attract predators that impact other bird species, as well.

• Goslings grow fast! Once goslings hatch, they stay with their parents and forage on the nesting grounds. Geese can travel several miles per day foraging, and goslings gain 5 ounces per day. They need to grow rapidly to have the body condition to migrate before winter hits the arctic.

• Special hunting regulations are in place surrounding snow goose harvest! Hunters have liberalized bag limits and the usual restrictions regarding waterfowl hunting (electronic calls, plugged shotguns, etc.) are also loosened up with the goal of reducing the light goose population. Currently, this is the management strategy in place to help mitigate light goose impacts to the arctic nesting habitats.  

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