Snow Goose
From Natural History of Southeast Alaska
| Locale | Sp | Su | F | W | Br |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SE Alaska (edit) | U | + | U | + | - |
| Yakutat (edit) | C | - | C | - | - |
| Skagway (edit) | R | - | R | - | - |
| Haines (edit) | R | R | R | R | - |
| Glacier Bay (edit) | FC | VR | FC | + | - |
| Juneau (edit) | O | + | R | VR | - |
| Sitka (edit) | R | - | U | - | - |
| Stikine (edit) | |||||
| S Outer Islands (edit) | |||||
| Ketchikan (edit) | U | - | U | - | - |
| Offshore (edit) |
On ground prefer open grassy areas such estuary and delta meadows.
Dark morph geese are very rare in the region.
- Lynn Canal and North on margin of main migration flyway?
- Typical migration dates? mid-April - early May; mid-Sep - late-Oct?
- List Summer records?
- List Winter records?
- Haines showing Rare year round?
- Preferred habitat check
*Blue morph records? Two so far, but JNU lists as + in Spring.
SEAK QBR Mentions:
- F2008: recorded moving through region 23 Sept - 3 October
- Sp2009: 15 April 2009 first reports (WRG, JNU). Migrating flocks observed through 25 April 2009 (high count 300 over KTN).
- F2009: 24 Sept 2009 new arrival date for KTN (by two days). 23 Sept 2009 at Gustavus
- Sp2010: First reports 15 March at WRG (notes that same as 2009, so maybe an error, and this should be 15 April?). Migration typically peaks mid-April to early May. Late flocks observed 15 May at JNU, KTN, GUS. Straggler at JNU 30 May was latest report
- F2010: Unusual sighting of 4 at KTN airport 20 August 2010 - no prior summer reports of non-breeders. Typical numbers in region later in the season, including 2000-3000 at mouth of Stikine 18 October. Single bird at KTN to 7 November was new local late date.
- Sp2012: Bird at JNU 9 May 2012 banded in Skagit Valley 21 March 2021. SEAK migrants breed on Wrangel Island, Russia. Some winter on Fraser and Skagit river deltas (get orange staining on head from iron oxide). May 2003 banded bird observed in JNU had been banded on Wrangel Island in 2001.
- F2012: Early flock at WRG 18 Sept 2012. multiple reports mentioned from last week of Sept through mid-October.
- Su2015: Four at GUS 3 June 2015 provided a rare summer record
- F2015: Lone bird in JNU 8 November was late. Most depart by late October
- W2015-2016: One at Mitkof Island 30 December, another individual wintered in JNU (present through 10 March 2016). Few mid-winter records from Alaska.
- F2016: Large numbers observed over KTN 17-22 Oct. Flocks totaling 1250 birds was one of the larges KTN counts ever. 50 over JNU 16 October (where 'hit or miss' in the fall, according to GBV). Other reports from HNH and SIT for 17 Oct. One on ground at GUS 18 Nov new local late date (by 18 days). Most leave region by late October.
- Sp2017: Est. 4000 at Stikine River mouth 29 April. This is only migration route staging site for this species in SEAK
- Su2017: up to 3 stragglers 4-8 June at JNU were very late. Few June records for JNU
- F2017: Late singles at CRG (8 Nov) and GUS (22 Nov).
- W2017-2018: One at GUS 6-18 December one of few local winter records. One at JNU 26 Dec remained through the end of winter (second year in a row one overwintered)
- Sp2018: Wintering bird at JNU last seen 11 March. Stikine River mouth estimates 5000 on 14 April, 1700 on 21 April, 1500 on 30 April, 1100 on 5 May. GUS and JNU higher than average numbers 9 Apr-27 May. Max at JNU 167 on 6 May. High counts at GUS 400 on 29 April and 2 May, 600 on 20 April. Also observed at SKG 5-12 May - max of 22 on 6 May. Blue-morph observed 9 May 2018 at GUS. 2nd report from SEAK? Prior report of 2 at Stikine River mouth 27 April - 4 May 1992.
Local Notes
- Glacier Bay/Snow Goose: (edit)
- Haines/Snow Goose: (edit)
- Juneau/Snow Goose: "Blue" morph + in Spring One summer report June 2022 [1] (edit)
- Ketchikan/Snow Goose: (edit)
- Sitka/Snow Goose: Probably an Uncommon migrant, though Very Rare on the ground along the road system. Best seen by carefully observing flocks of geese flying overhead during migration. Despite the strong probability that these birds fly over Sitka in some numbers each year, they have rarely been reported. It is clear that they very rarely spend much, if any, time on the ground along the Sitka road system, though it is possible they may more often spend some down time at other locations in the greater Sitka area. They are probably under reported in flights due to poor conditions for observation of flocks that are flying high overhead and a failure to look carefully because of a default assumption that flocks of flying geese are the more common Canada Goose. (edit)
- Skagway/Snow Goose: (edit)
- Yakutat/Snow Goose: (edit)
References
Weblinks
- All About Birds Page for Snow Goose
- Search Arctos Database for Snow Goose (Southeast only)
- Search Arctos Database for Snow Goose (entire database)
- Encyclopedia of Life search for Chen caerulescens
- iNaturalist Observations for Chen caerulescens in Southeast Alaska
Other References
Related Files
Migrating Snow Geese in flight.
Snow Goose in flock of Greater White-fronted Geese.
