Search USGS⌕ Search

USGS · 70188689

The Emperor Goose

Abstract

Many ornithologists believe the emperor goose ( Chen canagicus ) is the most beautiful goose in North America. Detailed descriptions of its plumage can be found in Palmer 1 and a general description in Bellrose. 2 Emperor geese are rather short and squatty, with yellow-orange feet and pink bills. Their bluish-gray body feathers are banded in black and fringed on the outside edge with white. The beads and necks of adult emperors are white except for a wide, dark-gray band that begins at the throat and extends down the neck to the breast. The plumage of immatures more than four months old is similar to that of adults. Before four months their heads are gray.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Margaret R. Petersen. 1985. The Emperor Goose. https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/70188689

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related USGS reports

Polar Bear

No abstract available.

Audubon Wildlife Report↗

Hawaiian birds

Hawaii's 132 islands, reefs, and shoals extend 1,523 miles from the southernmost island of Hawaii to the northernmost islands at Kure Atoll. The northernmost islands, now eroded almost to sea level, are about 27 million years old, whereas the still-forming island of Hawaii is only about 750,000 years old. The Hawaiian Islands are the most isolated in the world and, as such, have developed many species and subspecies of plants and animals found nowhere else. the arrival of few ancestral species and the isolation of the islands, with their varying ages, elevations, climates, and microhabitats, were ideal for creating this great endemic biota through adaptive radiation.

Audubon Wildlife Report↗

The California condor

The California condor ( Gymnogyps californicus ), with a weight of 18 to 22 pounds and a wingspan of approximately nine feet, is one of the largest land birds in the Western Hemisphere. It is one of seven species of New World vultures in the family Cathartidae, which includes the more familiar and much smaller North American species, the turkey vulture ( Cathartes aura ). 1

Audubon Wildlife Report↗