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Snow Goose comes in light and and dark color morphs, the
latter the much less common form among western birds. The bird above
shows the full dark morph plumage, but gradations between the forms are
also found. There are two subspecies, Greater and Lesser;
all the birds on this page are Lesser Snow Geese.
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A first-cycle bird, with gray-brown feathers where an adult would be pure white, and with bill mottled instead of bright pink.
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This
picture shows a mixture of Snow and Ross's Geese; when they are
seen side by side, the features that distinguish them are readily
noticed. All six of the birds still in flight are Snows; most of the
birds already in the water are Ross's, a few are Snows. Snow Geese are
larger, have proportionally larger bills and flatter heads, and the
bills show a prominent dark "grinning patch;" Ross's Geese usually show
some gray at the base of the bill. Snows often (as in this picture)
have orange-tinged heads, with the usually white feathers stained by
iron ore in the mud into which they thrust their heads while feeding.
Ross's do not show these iron stains. A larger version of this picture,
allowing closer examination of the differences between birds of
the two species, can be seen here.
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The front two birds above are first-cycle, the other three adults.
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Snow
Geese flying in front of fall colors at spectacular Bosque del Apache,
New Mexico. Above, three birds; below, a large flock, with some out of
focus Sandhill Cranes grazing in the background.
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