Ross Goose Facts

Latin: Chen rossii

Average length: M 25", F 23"

Average weight: M 4.0 lbs., F 3.6 lbs

Description: Ross' geese are the most diminutive of the three assortments of white geese that breed in North America. The Ross' goose is a little white goose with dark essential plumes. The bill is a profound rosy pink with a paler nail and a variably pale blue warty range over the base of the basal territory. The legs and feet are rose-pink and the iris is dull tan. The genders are dimorphic, with the female being 6 percent littler than the male. The Ross' goose has a generally short neck and fails to offer the dark "smiling fix" that is common of more noteworthy and lesser snow geese, for which it is regularly mixed up. Ross' geese may be recognized from snow geese by their more diminutive size, more quick wing beat and higher-pitched call.

Breeding:Ross' geese breed in the low ice tundra, fundamentally close Queen Maud Gulf, southern Southampton Island, the western shoreline of Hudson Bay and the Sagavanirktok River delta in Alaska. They generally settle in provinces blended with lesser snow geese, making their homes on the ground in meagerly vegetated territories. Female Ross' geese lay a normal of 3-4 eggs.

Migrating and Wintering: Ross' geese are among the first to leave the reproducing grounds in Canada. The California Central Valley is presently the primary wintering region for Ross' geese, yet expanding numbers are wintering in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Texas and the north-focal high countries of Mexico.

Food habits: Ross' geese eat grasses, sedges and little grains, especially squander wheat and grain in the winter months.

The origin of Ross's Goose

The origin of most European records of Ross's Geese is uncertain. They are certainly a potential vagrant from North America but the situation is complicated by escapes from captivity, some of which are now breeding ferally in the UK.

The winter of 2003/2004 saw at least three individuals amongst the flocks of Pink-footed Geese wintering in Norfolk. At least one of these was an escaped bird since it bore a plastic ring, however this bird spent most of its time with feral Greylag Geese and was only occasionally seen with the Pink-foot flocks.

The other two were probably wild vagrants, but it is impossible to be certain. One of them had also been present during the previous two winters; when it first arrived in autumn 2001 it was aged as a first-winter, strengthening the case for it being a wild vagrant. Since then one or two Ross's Geese have been present nearly every winter and in 2007/2008 up to five potentially wild birds were reported, as well as one or two presumed escaped birds still knocking around.

The first few photos below are birds in wild goose flocks which may well be wild vagrants; then follow birds preferring the company of feral Barnacle Geese and these are most likely to be feral.

Ross's Goose

The Ross's Goose (Chen rossii or Anser rossii) is a North American species of goose.
The American Ornithologists' Union places this species and the other two "white" geese in the genus Chen rather than the more traditional "grey" goose genus Anser.

This goose breeds in northern Canada, mainly in the Queen Maud Gulf Migratory Bird Sanctuary, and winters much further south in the continent in the southern United States and occasionally northern Mexico.
The plumage of this species is white except for black wing tips. It is similar in appearance to a white-phase Snow Goose but approximately 40% smaller. Other differences from the Snow Goose are that the bill is smaller in proportion to its body and lacks "black lips". The dark phase is extremely rare.

The Ross's Goose is a rare vagrant to Western Europe, but it is commonly kept in wildfowl collections and so the true frequency of wild birds is hard to ascertain. Escaped or feral specimens are encountered frequently, usually in the company of other feral geese such as Canada Goose, Greylag Goose and Barnacle Goose. However, individuals or small groups that seemed to be of natural origin have turned up in Holland and Britain.

This species is named in honor of Bernard R. Ross, a Hudson's Bay Company factor at Fort Resolution in Canada's Northwest Territories

Ross's Goose

The Ross's Goose (Chen rossii or Anser rossii) is a North American species of goose.

The American Ornithologists' Union places this species and the other two "white" geese in the genus Chen rather than the more traditional "grey" goose genus Anser.

This goose breeds in northern Canada, mainly in the Queen Maud Gulf Migratory Bird Sanctuary, and winters much further south in the continent in the southern USA and occasionally northern Mexico.

The plumage of this species is white except for black wing tips. It is similar in appearance to a white-phase Snow Goose but approximately 40% smaller. Other differences from the Snow Goose are that Ross's bill is smaller in proportion to its body and lacks "black lips". The dark phase is extremely rare.

The Ross's Goose is a rare vagrant to Western Europe, but it is commonly kept in wildfowl collections and so the true frequency of wild birds is hard to ascertain. Escaped or feral specimens are encountered frequently, usually in the company of other feral geese such as Canada Goose, Greylag Goose and Barnacle Goose. However, individuals or small groups that seemed to be of natural origin have turned up in Holland and Britain.

This species is named in honor of Bernard R. Ross, a Hudson's Bay Company factor at Fort Resolution in Canada's Northwest Territories.