Blue Goose

Description:

The Snow Goose has two color plumage morphs, white (snow) or gray/blue (blue), thus the common description as "snows" and "blues." White-morph birds are white except for black wing tips, but blue-morph geese have bluish-grey plumage replacing the white except on the head, neck and tail tip. The immature blue phase is drab or slate-gray with little to no white on the head, neck, or belly. Both snow and blue phases have rose-red feet and legs, and pink bills with black tomia ("cutting edges"), giving them a black "grin patch." The colors are not as bright on the feet, legs, and bill of immature birds. The Snow Goose (Chen caerulescens), also known as the Blue Goose, is a North American species of goose. Its name derives from the typically white plumage. The genus of this bird is disputed. The American Ornithologists' Union and BirdLife International place this species and the other "white" geese in the Chen genus, while other authorities place it in the more traditional "grey" goose genus Anser.

Habitat:

This goose breeds north of the timberline in Greenland, Canada, Alaska, and the northeastern tip of Siberia, and winters in warm parts of North America from southwestern British Columbia through parts of the United States to Mexico.

Notes:

This sighting was in Dallas Texas, which it now calls home. This bird came to the area a few years ago, and would have migrated back to its summer home had it not been for some fishing line that some person left either in the water or on the shore line. This bird was found with fishing line wrapped around its wings and legs, and was nursed back to health by a caring soul, who I had the pleasure of running into while I was making some sightings. He told me that this bird was banded ( there are two bands, one on each leg) in Manatoba Canada. This bird now lives in Dallas and is there with a few other geese that are also unable to make a journey back to their summer home. Should you be fishing, and break your line, would you, could you please pick it up, and make sure it is either reused, or disposed of properly?