Range:

Northeastern Siberia, Arctic America. Winters to Japan, northern Mexico, Gulf coast.

Habitat:

Tundra (summer), marshes, grainfields, prairies, ponds, bays.

Characteristics:

Those that are most common in the east are pure white with black wing tips, pink feet and stout pink bill with black margin. Juveniles are mottled with brownish-gray and have a dark bill. In the west and along the Gulf coast most individuals are white but blue phase occurs (formerly considered a seperate species, the Blue Goose, Chen caerulescens) with upper parts bluish-gray, under-parts brownish gray, head and upper neck white, pinkish bill and feet. The voice is a high pitched nasal barking.

 

Behavior:

Noisy in flight. More terrestrial than ducks, grazes on land. Gregarious most of the year.

Reproduction:

Probably mate for life. Four to eight white eggs are laid in a large cup of moss and grass, lined with down. Nesting is often in loose colonies.