Saturday, December 16, 2006

The Snow Goose

The Snow Goose is a medium-sized goose that breeds in the Alaskan tundra and winters in the warmer areas of the United States. The adults are usually white with black-tipped wings and the young are grayish or “blue”. There is also a blue morph version of the adult goose that has grayish feathers. The feet and bill are pink and there is a black line or “smile” on the sides of the bill.

Every fall, the Snow Goose embarks on a long trip. On the west coast of the United States, the snow goose leaves its nesting site in Alaska, to travel in huge flocks over thousands of miles south to the warmer weather of the Central California Valley. There it spends the winter resting in wetlands and feeding on winter grains planted by farmers. The Central Valley used to be covered in vast wetlands and hosted millions of geese, ducks and swans, but early in the last century farming took over the area and the wetlands were drained to make the area suitable for planting crops. Today only a small fraction of the area is still natural wetlands. Thankfully, people realized the impact farming was having on the environment and worked out a compromise. In the spring and summer, the fields support California’s agricultural demands, hosting rice, cotton, tomatoes, onions and other crops. In the fall, farmers harvest the crops and burn the waste. The fields are then either planted with winter grains or flooded with irrigation water to support the migrating waterfowl that continue their annual migration south. Due to these restoration efforts, we can continue to witness the awesome sights and sounds of masses of snow geese taking flight at once over the Central Valley.

You can order Snow Geese Christmas Cards now from my online store here: http://www.cafepress.com/dcnaturephotos

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