Birds

What is a Blue Goose?

January 14, 2015 by Larry 2 Comments
Snow Goose Dark Morph

The “Blue Goose” is the dark morph of the Snow Goose (Chen caerulescens). Click on photos for full sized images.

Snow Goose Dark Morph

Color morphs are controlled by a single gene locus where the dark allele is incompletely dominant to the light. The distribution of color morphs is unequal in the Snow Goose population, with the maximum number of blue-morph geese occurring in mid-continent breeding and wintering areas1.

Snow Goose Dark Morph

The nesting colonies of blue-morph geese were not discovered until 1929 after a direct and intentional search by Dewey Soper (a widely-traveled Canadian Arctic ornithologist) that lasted 6 years and, until 1983, the two color morphs were considered separate species.

Snow Goose Dark Morph

I photographed these blue morph Snow Geese at Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge where I saw quite a few, including this juvenile (below).

Snow Goose Dark Morph Juvenile

These are some of the images I took as the geese were bathing and preening.

Snow Goose Dark Morph

Snow Goose Dark Morph

I leave you with a video I shot of the dark morph Snow Goose bathing and preening with the juvenile preening at the end. At about the 2:03 mark you will notice a Ross’s Goose moving behind the dark morph goose from right to left and another following behind. Enjoy!

httpv://youtu.be/DYNb-0vYTE8

References: 1Birds of North America Online

Written by Larry
Larry Jordan was introduced to birding after moving to northern California where he was overwhelmed by the local wildlife, forcing him to buy his first field guide just to be able to identify all the species visiting his yard. Building birdhouses and putting up feeders brought the avian fauna even closer and he was hooked. Larry wanted to share his passion for birds and conservation and hatched The Birder's Report in September of 2007. His recent focus is on bringing the Western Burrowing Owl back to life in California where he also monitors several bluebird trails. He is a BirdLife Species Champion and contributes to several other conservation efforts, being the webmaster for Wintu Audubon Society and the Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Urban Bird Foundation. He is now co-founder of a movement to create a new revenue stream for our National Wildlife Refuges with a Wildlife Conservation Pass.