What does a Ross’s goose look like?

What does a toy goose look like?

In addition to traveling with Snow Geese, they can be found with other species of dark geese. Usually appears tiny, compact, and toy-like in comparison to other species. Small, round-headed goose with a small pinkish bill. Looking for ID Help? Get Instant ID help for 650+ North American birds.

What are two hypotheses about the evolution of Ross’s goose?

Two hypotheses about the evolution of Ross’s goose are that they arose from a population of snow geese that were isolated by glacial advance or in a refugium that remained ice free. Landscape in the central Arctic is dominated by flat plains with some rock outcrops and drumlins, wet meadows, and marshy tundra.

What is the difference between Ross goose and snow goose?

Ross’s goose. The plumage of this species is white except for black wing tips. It is similar in appearance to a white- phase snow goose, but about 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.

Is it a blue goose or a Ross’s Goose?

Identification of the “Blue Goose” morph is seldom a problem, but it can be distinctly challenging to separate the white Snow Goose from a very similar but smaller bird, Ross’s Goose. At one time, Ross’s Goose was scarce and localized, nesting in a limited area in north-central Canada, wintering mainly in central valleys of California.

What kind of bird looks like a blue Ross’s Goose?

Most birds that look like blue Ross’s at first turn out to be Snow X Ross’s Goose hybrids, so this form must be identified with caution. Snow Goose, white morph immature.

What is the difference between Ross’s and snow geese?

Recent discussion of the identification of a white goose in Ohio (beginning here) prompted me to put together some sketches of bill shapes of Ross’s and Snow Geese, since bill shape is the most significant difference between those species.

Are Ross’s geese related to snow geese?

It could be that the blue-morph Ross’s comes about by a mutation, or more likely the result of hybridization somewhere, sometime with Snow Goose. So perhaps all blue-morph “Ross’s Geese” will show traces of Snow Goose lineage.

What kind of goose has a blue head?

The “Blue Goose” morph of Snow Goose, long considered a separate species, is distinctive as an adult, with white head and dark body plumage. The only similar species is Emperor Goose, an Alaskan specialty with a prominent black chin. However, there’s also a very rare blue morph of Ross’s Goose.

Do Ross’s geese have feathers on the bill?

David Sibley shows a similar gentle arc of white feathering across the base of the bill on a Ross’s Goose in his own images of the variation in such morphology among white geese (Sibley 2011).

How should future researchers approach the study of evolution?

We suggest that future researchers attempt to integrate the abundance of available data among various disciplines (e.g., paleontological, behavioral, ontogenetic, life history, aerodynamic, and ecological) before offering yet another version of either a ground-up or a tree-down interpretation.

Are Ross’s geese blue morph birds?

McLandress and McLandress (1979) first reported blue morph birds; they found three among 38,825 Ross’s Geese in California. As well as these three “pure” blue morph Ross’s Geese, McLandress and McLandress (1979) found putative hybrid blue morph birds that possessed characters intermediate between Ross’s Goose and Snow Goose.

Do birds use protowings during ontogeny?

The use of incipient wings during ontogeny in living birds reveals not only the function of these developing forelimbs in growing birds’ survival but also the possible employment of protowings during transitional stages in the evolution of flight.

How common is hybridization between Ross’s goose and snow goose?

Hybridization occurs between Ross’s Goose and Snow Goose, estimated at 4.7% of a sample of around 12,000 Ross’s and Snow Geese in the Central Flyway examined between 1961 and 1968 (Trauger et al 1971, Baldassare 2014). This percentage will likely increase as Ross’s Goose expands its breeding range eastward (Trauger et al 1971, Johnsgard 2014).

Is it a Ross’s or a snow goose?

Put this bird among Snow Geese rather than Ross’s Geese, and many of us would call it a Ross’s (whether it’s blue or white), which might say something more about us than about this particular goose. Finally, at long last, the grin patch. Snow Goose has one. Ross’s does not.

Is this a legitimate blue-morph Ross’s Goose?

I’m calling this bird a legitimate blue-morph Ross’s Goose. As best I can tell, the origins of the blue morph in Ross’s Goose are undetermined. There does not yet seem to be evidence of a blue allele, obvious in Snow Goose, in the lineage of Ross’s Goose (Johnson 2013).

Are Ross’s geese hybridizing?

The two species seem to be hybridizing more frequently as warming allows their breeding ranges to come into contact. Ross’s Geese are reliably seen in winter in California, New Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana.

What do snow geese look like in flight?

Snow Geese typically give numerous nasal honks in flight. Their black wingtips are highly visible in flight even at a distance. White with dusky gray-brown on head, neck, and wings.

What is the difference between Snow Goose and Ross’s Goose?

The best-known field mark for Ross’s Goose is the fact that it lacks the Snow Goose’s black “grin patch.” However, everything about the bill shape and color is distinctive. Ross’s Goose has a short, stubby bill, often appearing “punched in” to the face.

What is the difference between Ross’s and Snow’s Bill feathers?

The border of the feathering at the base of the bill should be nearly straight in Ross’s and curved in Snow. In this bird the feathers are slightly curved, though perhaps still within the variation of Ross’s.

Where do Ross’s geese live?

Ross’s goose (Anser rossii) is a North American species of goose. 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.

What is Ross’s goose?

Ross’s goose ( Anser rossii) or horned wavey is a white goose with black wingtips and a relatively short neck, and is the smallest of the three ” white geese ” that breed in North America. It is similar in appearance to a white-phase snow goose, but about 40% smaller.