The Howland
Picture Pages: Snow Goose The Howland
Picture Pages: Snow GoosePage by Royce
Last update: $Date: 2004/01/21 04:52:10 $ (UTC)
The Snow Goose (Chen caerulescens) is a white goose with black primary feathers that are most striking when the bird is in flight. Snow Geese are not resident in Alberta, but only pass through on their way between their summer breeding grounds in the far north, and their winter territory mostly in Mexico and a few spots in the U.S. They are often seen in flocks numbering in the thousands. In flight, they usually do not form a "V" as do Canada Geese for example, but instead stream out in long, flowing lines. The Snow Goose is similar to the smaller and less numerous Ross' Goose; the two species are often seen together.
One of the best and most accessible places in continental North America to view Snow Geese is the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico. The Bosque is in fact world famous as a major wintering spot for Snow Geese, along with the Sandhill Crane. Both species winter in the Bosque in the thousands. The Snow Goose population can exceed 25,000! When they take off in the morning to feed in nearby grain fields, it's quite a sight.
See also our Bosque del Apache page.
Resources where you can find out more:
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Having seen the Snow Geese at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge the afternoon of our first visit (see below), we decided to come back the following morning (November 17, 2002) to see the famous sunrise lift-off. Here we have a small number of Geese flying over the pond after many of the main group -- numbering in the thousands -- have departed in a few large waves. Unlike Canada Geese for example, Snow Geese do not fly in formation but rather in a big, irregular bunch. In the background, the sun is about ready to come up over the mountains, while in the foreground a few dabbling ducks are puttering around the pond.
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Here is another shot of a few Snow Geese taking off, silhouetted against the fiery backdrop of sky early the morning of November 17, 2002.
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Here is one of the waves of Snow Geese lifting off the morning of November 17, 2002. The photo is murky, exposure simply wasn't right. But I am including it to give some sense of the event. It's a poor second without the motion and noise -- honking and the rush of hundreds of pairs of wings. Plus I think there is something to the image of the few Geese that have launched up into the lightening sky while the majority seethe below against the dark background, or remain behind on the water. If the image quality was good, perhaps this would make a good corporate motivational picture.
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When we first arrived at Bosque del Apache on November 16, 2002, it was early afternoon. We had a quick bite to eat and then did a bit of rubber-necking around the area of the visitor center. (See our Bosque del Apache page.) Before we quite had our bearings, we heard a commotion not far away and some people started turning or walking towards a huge flurry of activity that was both visible and audible. I walked a little closer and realized I was seeing a huge flock of many hundreds of Snow Geese that had been stirred up from a pond right at the entrance to the wetlands area. This photo attempts to do only one thing -- communicate an impression of a huge mass of geese in a flap. The full resolution image is about three times wider than this cropped section, and even so could not encompass more than perhaps half of the full airborne flock that was milling around just then.
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