Autumn Diet of Lesser Snow Geese Staging in Northeastern Alaska

Abstract

The coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is used by lesser snow geese (Chen caerulescens caerulescens) in autumn for premigratory staging. To better understand the potential impacts of human disturbance on lesser snow geese, we investigated species composition of, and temporal and age-related variation in, their diet during staging. Depending on age and time of collection, between 35.2 and 94.1% of the diet (aggregate percent wet mass, n = 75) consisted of 2 species of plants; underground stems of tall cotton-grass (Eriophorum angustifolium), and aerial shoots of northern scouring-rush (Equisetum variegatum)