Ross's Goose

Overview

Ross's Goose: Small, white goose with black primary feathers and stubby gray-based red-orange bill. Red-orange legs and feet. Eats mostly fresh grasses and grains, often in the company of Snow Geese. Rapid direct flight with strong wing beats. Flies in a V formation. North America's smallest goose.

Range and Habitat

Ross's Goose: Breeds on tundra in northeastern Mackenzie and on Southampton Island in Hudson Bay. Spends winters mainly in California, but now occurs in increasing numbers in the lower Mississippi Valley and on the east coast. Found in salt and freshwater marshes during winter.

INTERESTING FACTS

The Ross’s Goose was first reported as the “Horned Wavey” by the explorer Samuel Hearne during his travels to the central Canadian Arctic between 1770 and 1771, it was not described for science until almost a century later (Cassin 1861). Its nesting grounds remained unknown for another 80 years until Angus Gavin located them in the Perry River region of the central Canadian Arctic in 1940. Their population has increased from a recorded low of 2,000–3,000 in the early 1950s to an estimated global population of 1,100,000 individuals. A group of geese has many collective nouns, including a "blizzard", "chevron", "knot", "plump", and "string" of geese.