Identification Tips:
Length: 19 inches Wingspan: 58-59 inches
Sexes similar
Medium-sized long-necked goose
Different color morphs
Frequently gathers in huge flocks
Sometimes hybridizes with similar Ross's Goose
White morph-adult
Entirely white plumage
Black primaries
Pink legs and feet
Pink bill with black patch along mandibles
Sometimes has orangish stains on head
White morph-immature
Mostly white plumage
Pale gray nape, back, and wing coverts
Black primaries
Dark legs and feet
Dark bill
Blue morph-adult
White head and upper neck
Dark lower neck and body-some have white bellies
Pale gray wing upperwing coverts
Scapulars dark-centered with white edges
Mostly dark primaries and secondaries
Pink legs and feet
Pink bill with black patch along mandibles
Blue morph-immature
Mostly dark gray-brown plumage
Dark legs and feet
Dark bill
Similar species:
The white morph of the Snow Goose is similar to widely-escaped domesticated barnyard goose. Note that the Snow Goose has black primaries and a distinctive bill pattern. Domesticated geese have white primaries and, often, an entirely orange bill. White morph Ross's Goose is extemely similar to the white morph Snow Goose. The Ross's Goose is smaller with a stubbier bill without the black patch on the mandibles. It also appears rounder-headed with a shorter neck. Immature white morph Snow Goose is darker-backed than the immature white morph Ross's Goose. The rare blue morph of the Ross's Goose can be separated from the similar blue morph of the Snow Goose by the same structural characteristics already mentioned. Hybrids between Ross's and Snow Geese have intermediate characteristics. The immature blue morph is similar to the immature White-fronted Goose but has dark legs and bill.
Two races of snow geese are recognized: greater snows along the Atlantic Coast, and lesser snows elsewhere on the continent. Blue geese are a color phase of the lesser snow.