Greater White-fronted Goose Anser albifrons Scientific name definitions

With a nearly circumpolar arctic distribution, the Greater White-fronted Goose has the broadest range of any species in its genus and is the only New World representative of the five species of gray geese from the Old World. In North America, this species breeds in open tundra areas of the low Arctic from Point Barrow, Alaska (71°N) to northeastern Keewatin, Northwest Territories (71° 31'N), and it formerly wintered south to Chiapas, Mexico (15°N), thus having the broadest latitudinal range of any arctic-nesting goose.

The Greater White-fronted Goose inhabits natural wetlands and agricultural lands-a broad spectrum of habitats ranging from wet tundra, boreal forest mires, and coastal marshes in the temperate zone to semiarid grasslands, deserts, and montane valleys in the subtropics of Mexico. It is most commonly found west of the Mississippi River and west of 85°W longitude from the Yucatán Peninsula north to the base of the Melville Peninsula in Keewatin.

This is a sexually monomorphic species, generally monogamous, cryptically colored, and territorial while breeding. A long-lived bird, it maintains permanent pair bonds and provides extended biparental care to its young, often into the next breeding season and beyond. Gregarious and social except while nesting, it nests singly or in loose aggregations and lays three to seven pale tannish-white eggs. Unsuccessful pairs and some nonbreeders undertake a premolt migration to segregated molting grounds. During its nonbreeding season from August to May, this species forms flocks and stages and roosts communally, often in association with other species of geese. A highly mobile bird and one of our first fall migrants, this goose undertakes long seasonal migrations from Alaska to Oregon and from arctic Canada across the boreal forest to the northern Great Plains.

In North America, the Greater White-fronted Goose comprises two geographically distinct populations: Pacific and Midcontinent. Both have fluctuated dramatically since the early 1950s, with declines resulting from overexploitation and loss of habitat. This is a species avidly sought by sport and subsistence hunters. Over 1,000,000 birds inhabited North America in autumn 1994. A larger, dark brown subspecies, the Tule Goose (Anser albifrons gambeli), numbers less than 10,000.

Although the Greater White-fronted Goose has been well studied in Europe and parts of Asia (Cramp and Simmons 1977 Cramp, S., and K. E. L. Simmons, Editors (1977). The Birds of the Western Palearctic. Volume 1. Ostrich to Ducks. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Close , Owen et al. 1992), only a modest published data base exists for its Nearctic forms, despite significant numbers of unpublished reports. Important bibliographies for the species can be found in Palmer (Palmer 1976 Palmer, R. S. (1976). Handbook of North American Birds, Volume 2: Waterfowl. Part 1. Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut, USA. Close ), Cramp and Simmons (Cramp and Simmons 1977 Cramp, S., and K. E. L. Simmons, Editors (1977). The Birds of the Western Palearctic. Volume 1. Ostrich to Ducks. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Close ), Johnsgard (Johnsgard 1978 Johnsgard, P. A. (1978). Ducks, Geese and Swans of the World. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE, USA. Close ), Bellrose (Bellrose 1980 Bellrose, F. C. (1980). Ducks, Geese, and Swans of North America. Revised edition. Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, PA, USA. Close ), Owen (Owen 1980 Owen, M. (1980). Wild Geese of the World: their Life History and Ecology. B. T. Batsford Ltd,London, UK . Close ), Fox and Stroud (Fox and Stroud 1981b Fox, A. D., and D. A. Stroud. (1981). Report of the 1979 Greenland White-fronted Goose study Expedition to Egglungmiut Nuhot, West Greenland. Nimsfeilde Press Ltd., Aberystuyth Close ), Weller (Weller 1988 Weller, M. W. (1988). Waterfowl in Winter. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN, USA. Close ), Johnson and Herter (Johnson and Herter 1989 Johnson, S. R., and D. R. Herter (1989). The Birds of the Beaufort Sea. BP Exploration, Anchorage, Alaska, USA. Close ), Smith et al. (Smith et al. 1989 Smith, L. M., R. L. Pederson, and R. M. Kaminski (1989). Habitat management for migrating and wintering waterfowl in North America. Texas Technical University of Press, Lubbock, TX, USA. Close ), and Batt et al. (Batt et al. 1992 Batt, B. D. J., A. D. Afton, M. G. Anderson, C. D. Ankney, D. H. Johnson, J. A. Kadlec, and G. L. Krapu (1992). Ecology and Management of Breeding Waterfowl. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN, USA. Close ).