Stray Geese

     Descended from geese introduced here as breeding birds, Canada geese, as a species, are in southeastern Pennsylvania by the thousands the year around.  And every winter, and especially in February and March, tens of thousands of restless snow geese come into this area looking for corn kernels in harvested fields and the green shoots of winter rye to eat, just as the Canadas do.  But five other kinds of geese are in this area rarely and in limited numbers in winter.  These stray geese usually join flocks of Canada geese and snow geese on resting impoundments and in feeding fields to eat a variety of vegetation, adding more interest to those great gatherings of geese during winter.  Look in a field guide to North American birds to see these kinds of geese.
     Cackling geese are Canada geese look-alikes, except cacklers are half the size of Canada geese and have short necks and small heads and beaks.  Closely related to Canada geese, cackling geese nest along the Arctic Ocean in western Canada, which is farther north and west in Canada than where Canada geese raise young.  Cacklers spend winters in several of the Central states, but a few get east in winter.
     Atlantic brant is in the same family of geese as Canada geese, Branta, but brant are hardly larger than mallard ducks.  Brant rear goslings high in the Arctic tundra and winter along both coasts of the United States.  Black brant winter on the Pacific Coast, while Atlantic brant winter on the east coast.  Both species mostly ate aquatic vegetation until disease killed much of it.  Now brant also feed on winter rye shoots and other vegetation on land. 
     The feathering of brant bodies is much the same as that on Canada geese.  But brant necks and heads are totally dark, except a small white mark on each side of the neck that identifies them.
     Barnacle geese are in the Branta family, too.  And  these small geese are closely related to the diminutive cackling geese.  This type of goose hatches goslings high on rocky cliffs on Arctic islands of the North Atlantic Ocean to avoid the inroads of Arctic foxes and polar bears.  To get to feeding grounds, the young geese must leap off the cliffs and bounce down on rocks to the bottom.  Some are killed or injured by the impacts and are scavenged by Arctic foxes and polar bears.
     Barnacle geese have light-gray feathering on their bodies, dark necks and much white on their heads.  But they do resemble cackling geese to a degree.
     Greater white-fronted geese are in the Anser family.  This species rears offspring on the tundra along the Arctic Ocean in Alaska and western Canada.  And they winter along the Pacific Coast and in Mexico.  This species is also called "speckle-belly" because of the dark patches and speckles on the feathering of their underparts.
     Belonging to the goose family Chen, Ross's geese are tiny, white geese with black wing tips.  They look like their close relatives, the snow geese, but are much smaller.  Just like snow geese, Ross's geese have two color phases, white and dark.  The white phase birds are white all over, except black wing tips.  The dark phase are called blue geese, but they really are gray with white necks and heads, and black wing tips.   
     Ross's geese breed in a few places on the tundra, especially on the western shore of Hudson Bay.  They winter mostly in Central California and other parts of the southwestern United States, but a few make it east every winter.
     Look for these stray geese in hordes of Canada geese and snow geese in winter here in southeastern Pennsylvania, as elsewhere.  They are not always east to spot with so many birds.  But they add a bit of spice to winter days when found.