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Snow Goose
C. c. caerulescens white morph
C. c. caerulescens white morph
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae
Genus: Chen (disputed)
Species: C. The conservation status of a Species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species remaining extant either in the present day or the near future Least Concern ( LC) is an IUCN category assigned to extant species or lower taxa which have been evaluated but do not qualify for any other category The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data List) created in 1963 is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global Chordates ( Phylum Chordata) are a group of Animals that includes the Vertebrates together with several closely related Invertebrates Birds ( class Aves) are bipedal endothermic ( Warm-blooded) Vertebrate animals that lay eggs. The order Anseriformes contains about 150 living Species of Birds in three extant families the Anhimidae (the screamers Anseranatidae The white geese are a small group of Waterfowl which are united in the Genus or Subgenus Chen, in the true geese and caerulescens
Binomial name
Chen caerulescens
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Subspecies
  • C. Carl Linnaeus (Latinized as Carolus Linnaeus, also known after his ennoblement as, May 23 new style (13 May old style 1707 who laid the foundations for In Zoology, as in other branches of Biology, subspecies is the Taxonomic rank immediately subordinate to a Species. c. caerulescens (Lesser Snow Goose)
  • C. c. atlanticus (Greater Snow Goose)
Synonyms

Anser caerulescens (but see text)

The Snow Goose (Chen caerulescens) is a North American species of goose. In Scientific nomenclature, synonyms are different Scientific names used for a single Taxon. In Biology, a species is one of the basic units of Biological classification and a Taxonomic rank. Goose (plural geese) is the English name for a considerable number of Birds belonging to the family Anatidae. Its name derives from the typically white plumage. Plumage refers both to the layer of Feathers that cover a Bird and the pattern colour and arrangement of those feathers The genus of this bird is disputed. A genus (plural genera from Γένος Latin genus "descent family type gender" is a low-level Taxonomic The American Ornithologists' Union and BirdLife International for example place this species and the other two "white" geese in the Chen genus, while some other authorities place it in the more traditional "grey" goose genus Anser. The American Ornithologists' Union ( AOU) an ornithological organization in the USA. BirdLife International (formerly known as the International Council for Bird Preservation, not to be confused with Birds International) is the international conservation The white geese are a small group of Waterfowl which are united in the Genus or Subgenus Chen, in the true geese and See also Grey Goose (disambiguation The Waterfowl Genus Anser includes all grey geese and usually

This goose breeds in northern Canada and the northeastern tip of Siberia, and winters much further south in the continent in the southern USA and beyond. Goose (plural geese) is the English name for a considerable number of Birds belonging to the family Anatidae. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Siberia (Сиби́рь Sibir) is the name given to the vast region constituting almost all of Northern Asia and for the most part currently serving The United States of America —commonly referred to as the

This species is a rare vagrant to Europe, but a frequent escape from collections and an occasional feral breeder. For example, Snow Geese are rare visitors to the British Isles where they are seen regularly among flocks of Barnacle, Brent and Greenland White-fronted geese. The British Isles (Irish variously Na hOileáin Bhriotanacha, Oileáin Iarthair Eorpa, Éire agus an Bhreatain Mhór; Ellanyn Goaldagh Eileanan The Barnacle Goose ( Branta leucopsis) belongs to the Genus Branta of black geese, which contains Species with largely black The Brent Goose ( Branta bernicla) a Goose of the Genus Branta, is known in North America as Brant. The Greater White-fronted Goose ( Anser albifrons) is a Goose Species closely related to the smaller Lesser White-fronted Goose There is also a feral population in Scotland from which many vagrant birds in Britain seem to derive. A feral organism is one that has escaped from Domestication and returned partly or wholly to its wild state Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. In Central America, vagrants are not infrequently encountered during the winter months[1].

Contents

Description

C. c. caerulescens blue morph
C. c. caerulescens blue morph

The smaller of the two subspecies, the Lesser Snow Goose (C. In Zoology, as in other branches of Biology, subspecies is the Taxonomic rank immediately subordinate to a Species. c. caerulescens), lives from central northern Canada to the Bering Straits area. The Bering Strait (Берингов пролив Beringov proliv) is a sea Strait between Cape Dezhnev, Russia, the easternmost point (169°43' It commonly occurs in two plumage morphs. Polymorphism in biology occurs when two or more clearly different Phenotypes exist in the same population of a species — in other words the occurrence of more than one White-morph birds are white except for black wing tips, but blue-morph geese have bluish-grey plumage replacing most of the white except on the head, neck and tail tip. White- and blue-morph birds do interbreed and the offspring may be of either morph. The larger subspecies, the Greater Snow Goose (C. c. atlanticus), nests to the north of eastern Canada. Blue-morph birds are rare among the Greater Snow Geese.

Ecology

Snow Geese wintering on the Skagit River delta
Snow Geese wintering on the Skagit River delta

Snow geese mainly eat plant material found in shallow water or on land. The Skagit River (ˈskædʒɨt loosely "skaj-it" is a River in southwestern British Columbia in Canada and northwestern Washington Outside of the nesting season, they usually feed in flocks. In winter, snow geese feed on left-over grain in fields. They migrate in large flocks, often visiting traditional stopover habitats in spectacular numbers.

Their nests are usually located in a slightly elevated location on the ground, built with plant material and lined with down. They mate for life. Monogamy is the custom or condition of having only one mate in a Relationship, thus forming a Couple.

The population of Greater Snow Geese was in decline at the beginning of the 20th century, but has now recovered to sustainable levels. Snow Geese in North America have increased to the point where the tundra breeding areas in the Arctic and the saltmarsh wintering grounds are both becoming severely degraded, and this affects other species using the same habitat. In physical Geography, tundra is an area where the Tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons

Habitat

The Lesser Snow Goose breeds primarily on Wrangle Island, near the gulf of alaska , and the north and west side of Hudson Bay.

The Greater Snow Goose breeds on the coast of Baffin Island, and Greenland.

During the winter both of the species of Snow Goose spend their time in the southern part of the United States and the north part of Mexico


Footnotes

  1. ^ Herrera et al. (2006)

References

External links

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