Home/Species/ Greater White-fronted Goose

Anser albifrons

(Scopoli, 1769)

Greater White-fronted Goose

G5Secure Found in 54 roadless areas NatureServe Explorer →

G5SecureGlobal Rank

Least concernIUCN

Identity

Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.104263

Element CodeABNJB03040

Record TypeSPECIES

ClassificationSpecies

Classification StatusStandard

Name CategoryVertebrate Animal

IUCNLeast concern

Endemicoccurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations

KingdomAnimalia

PhylumCraniata

ClassAves

OrderAnseriformes

FamilyAnatidae

GenusAnser

Other Common Names

Ganso Careto-Mayor (ES) Oie rieuse (FR)

Concept Reference

American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.

Taxonomic Comments

Exhibits geographic variation in morphology; breeders from Bristol Bay Lowlands are distinguishable from those in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska; further study of variation and subspecific status is needed (Orthmeyer et al. 1995). Subspecies elgasi (tule goose) may be a distinct species (Sibley and Monroe 1990, AOU 1998). May constitute a superspecies with A. erythropus (AOU 1998).

Conservation Status

Rank MethodExpertise without calculation

Review Date2016-04-06

Change Date1996-11-20

Range Extent>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)

Range Extent Comments

BREEDS: Northern Holarctic, although absent from eastern Greenland, Spitsbergen, Iceland, northern Scandinavia, and area between northeastern sections of Mackenzie and Keewatin districts, Northwest Territories. WINTERS: south to France, northern Africa, Greece, Iraq, Afghanistan, China, Japan, southern Mexico, and U.S. Gulf Coast; casual in Hawaii. In the U.S., occurs in winter primarily in California (Klamath Basin, Sacramento Valley, Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta) and coastal Texas (Root 1988, Condor 94:858). Subspecies ELGASI: breeds around Cook Inlet, Alaska; winters primarily in Sacramento Valley, California.

Ecology & Habitat

Habitat

In migration and winter, inhabits wetlands, grainfields, grassy fields, marshes, lakes and ponds. Breeds on arctic tundra on edge of marshes, lakes, sloughs, rivers. May nest on islands, on hillsides near open water, or on hummocks in bogs. Female scrapes out depression and lines it with grasses and down.

Ecology

Major causes of nest destruction in Alaska were flooding (28%) and predation (9%) (Ely and Raveling 1984).

Reproduction

In North America, nests are initiated from mid-May to early June. Female incubates an average of 4-6 eggs for an average of 26-28 days; male stands guard. Hatching usually occurs in late June or early July in the Beaufort Sea region. Nestlings are tended by both adults. Family groups stay in social contact on the wintering grounds for up to several years (Ely, 1993, Auk 110:425-435). In western Greenland, first breeds usually at 2-4 years (Condor 94:791-793). Does not replace destroyed clutch (if complete). Often nests in loose colonies (e.g., 15-20 pairs in area of 0.65 sq km or less). Maximum reported nest density in northern Alaska was about 1.6 nests per sq km (Johnson and Herter 1989).

Terrestrial Habitats

Grassland/herbaceousTundraCropland/hedgerow

Palustrine Habitats

HERBACEOUS WETLANDBog/fenRiparian

Other Nations (2)

United StatesN5B,N5N

Province	Rank	Native
Virginia	SNA	Yes
Tennessee	S3N	Yes
Georgia	S3	Yes
Idaho	S4M	Yes
Indiana	SNA	Yes
Minnesota	SNRM	Yes
Utah	SNA	Yes
New Mexico	S5N	Yes
Kentucky	SNA	Yes
West Virginia	S1N	Yes
Iowa	S3N	Yes
Texas	S5	Yes
Maryland	SNA	Yes
Wyoming	S4N	Yes
Oklahoma	S3N	Yes
Louisiana	S5N	Yes
Arkansas	S4N	Yes
Colorado	SNA	Yes
Alabama	S3N	Yes
Nebraska	SNRN	Yes
South Dakota	SNA	Yes
Washington	S3N	Yes
North Carolina	SNA	Yes
Navajo Nation	S2N	Yes
California	SNRN	Yes
Ohio	SNA	Yes
North Dakota	SNA	Yes
Nevada	S5N	Yes
Mississippi	SNA	Yes
Wisconsin	S4N	Yes
Montana	SNA	Yes
Illinois	SNA	Yes
Kansas	SNA	Yes
Oregon	SNA	Yes
South Carolina	S4N	Yes
Alaska	S5B	Yes
Missouri	SNRN	Yes
New Jersey	SNA	Yes
Arizona	S2N	Yes

CanadaN5B

Province	Rank	Native
Nunavut	S5B	Yes
Alberta	S5M	Yes
Quebec	S3M	Yes
Ontario	S3M	Yes
British Columbia	S4M	Yes
Northwest Territories	S5	Yes
Yukon Territory	S4B	Yes
Saskatchewan	S5M	Yes
Manitoba	S3M	Yes

Threat Assessments

Threat	Scope	Severity	Timing
11 - Climate change & severe weather	Pervasive (71-100%)	Unknown	Low (long-term)
11.1 - Habitat shifting & alteration	Pervasive (71-100%)	Unknown	Low (long-term)

Roadless Areas (54)

Alaska (27)

Area	Forest	Acres
Boston Bar	Chugach National Forest	53,617
Chilkat-West Lynn Canal	Tongass National Forest	199,772
Chugach-12	Chugach National Forest	8,116
College Fiord	Chugach National Forest	1,130,818
Copper River Wetlands	Chugach National Forest	85,972
Douglas Island	Tongass National Forest	28,065
Fidalgo-Gravina	Chugach National Forest	257,968
Gravina	Tongass National Forest	37,381
Green Rocks	Tongass National Forest	11,093
Juneau Urban	Tongass National Forest	101,581
Karta	Tongass National Forest	52,117
Kenai Lake	Chugach National Forest	213,172
Kenai Mountains	Chugach National Forest	306,600
Kogish	Tongass National Forest	65,216
Lindenberg	Tongass National Forest	25,855
Mansfield Peninsula	Tongass National Forest	54,991
Middle Kruzof	Tongass National Forest	14,724
Nellie Juan	Chugach National Forest	713,697
North Baranof	Tongass National Forest	314,089
North Kruzof	Tongass National Forest	33,146
Redoubt	Tongass National Forest	68,347
Revilla	Tongass National Forest	29,298
Roaded Donut	Chugach National Forest	968
Sitka Urban	Tongass National Forest	112,003
South Kruzof	Tongass National Forest	55,193
Tenakee Ridge	Tongass National Forest	20,527
Twenty Mile	Chugach National Forest	198,775

Arizona (1)

Area	Forest	Acres
Pinaleno	Coronado National Forest	130,920

California (8)

Area	Forest	Acres
Antimony	Los Padres National Forest	40,911
Cajon	San Bernardino National Forest	7,548
Chips Creek	Lassen National Forest	29,089
Chips Creek	Plumas National Forest	12,940
Dobie Flat	Modoc National Forest	15,079
Glass Mountain	Inyo National Forest	52,867
Lavas	Modoc National Forest	25,864
Log Cabin Saddlebag	Inyo National Forest	15,165

Idaho (1)

Area	Forest	Acres
Hoodoo	Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest	153,868

Oregon (10)

Area	Forest	Acres
Bearwallows	Deschutes National Forest	7,317
Hellhole	Umatilla National Forest	65,679
Hurricane Creek	Wallowa-Whitman National Forest	1,606
Mt. Bailey	Umpqua National Forest	18,401
North Paulina	Deschutes National Forest	19,670
South Paulina	Deschutes National Forest	9,074
Tenmile	Siuslaw National Forest	10,818
Umpqua Spit	Siuslaw National Forest	2,090
Wind Creek	Mt. Hood National Forest	5,438
Woahink	Siuslaw National Forest	5,309

South Dakota (1)

Area	Forest	Acres
Indian Creek	Buffalo Gap National Grassland	24,666

Tennessee (1)

Area	Forest	Acres
Flint Mill Gap	Cherokee National Forest	9,494

Utah (2)

Area	Forest	Acres
418025	Uinta National Forest	32,698
Cottonwood	Dixie National Forest	6,754

Virginia (1)

Area	Forest	Acres
Bear Creek	Jefferson National Forest	18,274

Washington (1)

Area	Forest	Acres
Mt. Baldy	Olympic National Forest	3,557

West Virginia (1)

Area	Forest	Acres
Cheat Mountain	Monongahela National Forest	8,191

References (31)

Alaska Department of Fish and Game. 1994. Wildlife Notebook Series: Geese. Available at: http://www.state.ak.us/adfg/notebook/bird/geese.htm. Accessed 2002-05-01.
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp.
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in <i>The Auk</i>]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
BirdLife International. 2004b. Threatened birds of the world 2004. CD ROM. BirdLife International, Cambridge, UK.
Budeau, D. A., J. T. Ratti, and C. R. Ely. 1991. Energy dynamics, foraging ecology, and behavior of prenesting greater white-fronted geese. J. Wildl. Manage. 55:556-563.
Ely, C. R., and A. X. Dzubin. 1994. Greater White-fronted Goose (<i>Anser albifrons</i>). In The Birds of North America, No. 131 (A. Poole and F. Gill, Eds.). Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.
Ely, C. R., and D. G. Raveling. 1984. Breeding biology of Pacific white-fronted geese. J. Wildl. Manage. 48:823-837.
Glazener, W. C. 1946. Food habits of wild geese on the Gulf Coast of Texas. Journal of Wildlife Management 10:322-329.
Godfrey, W.E. 1966. The birds of Canada. National Museums of Canada. Ottawa. 428 pp.
Hammond, M. C., and G. E. Mann. 1956. Waterfowl nesting islands. Journal of Wildlife Management 20:345-352.
Howell, S. N. G., and S. Webb. 1995. A guide to the birds of Mexico and northern Central America. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
Hughes, R. J., A. Reed, and G. Gauthier. 1994. Space and habitat use by Greater Snoow Goose broods on Bylot Island, Northwest Territories. Journal of Wildlife Management 58:536-545.
Johnson, S. R. and D. R. Herter. 1989. The Birds of the Beaufort Sea. BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., Anchorage, Alaska. 372 pp.
Kortright, F.H. 1967. The ducks, geese, and swans of North America. The Stackpole Company, Harrisburg, PA, and Wildlife Management Institute, Washington, D.C. 476 pp.
Nieman, D. J., and J. R. Smith. 1996. 1996 fall inventory of mid-continent white-fronted geese. Unpublished report, Canadian Wildlife Service, Prairie and Northern Region, Edmonton, Alberta.
Oberholser, H.C. 1974. The bird life of Texas. 2 vols. Univ. of Texas Press, Austin.
Orthmeyer, D. L., J. Y. Takekawa, C. R. Ely, M. L. Wege, and W. E. Newton. 1995. Morphological differences in Pacific coast populations of greater white-fronted geese. Condor 97:123-132.
Palmer, R. S., editor. 1976. Handbook of North American birds. Vol. 2. Waterfowl (first part). Whistling ducks, swans, geese, sheld-ducks, dabbling ducks. Yale Univ. Press, New Haven. 521 pp.
Parker III, T. A., D. F. Stotz, and J. W. Fitzpatrick. 1996. Ecological and distributional databases for neotropical birds. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Peterson, R.T. 1980b. A field guide to the birds of eastern and central North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston.
Peterson, R.T. 1990b. A field guide to western birds. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston.
Pratt, H. D., P. L. Bruner, and D. G. Berrett. 1987. A Field Guide to the Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. 409 pp. + 45 plates.
Raffaele, H., J. Wiley, O. Garrido, A. Keith, and J. Raffaele. 1998. A guide to the birds of the West Indies. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. 511 pp.
Ridgely, R. S. 2002. Distribution maps of South American birds. Unpublished.
Root, T. 1988. Atlas of wintering North American birds: An analysis of Christmas Bird Count data. University of Chicago Press. 336 pp.
Sibley, C.G., and B.L. Monroe, Jr. 1990. Distribution and Taxonomy of Birds of the World. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT. xxiv + 1111 pp.
Sibley, D. A. 2000a. The Sibley guide to birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
Soothill, E., and P. Whitehead. 1978. Wildfowl of the world. Peerage Books, London.
Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). 1988. SEIS 88. Final supplemental environmental impact statement: issuance of annual regulations permitting the sport hunting of migratory birds. x + 340 pp.
Williams, C. S., and C. A. Sooter. 1941. Canada Goose habitats in Utah and Oregon. Transactions of the North American Wildlife Conference 5:383-387.

Anser albifrons

Habitat

Ecology

Reproduction

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