Blue and Snow Geese in Eastern United States in the Winter of 1934-35: With Notes on Their Food Habits

Abstract

THE BLUE GOOSE (Chen caerulescens) is unique in its peculiarly restricted distribution and migration. It breeds in the southwestern part of Baffin Island and on Southampton Island and possibly in other parts of the arctic tundra; indeed, a recent but unconfirmed report indicates the discovery of a limited number of birds nesting in the vicinity of Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba. In southward migration it follows a circuitous course from Hudson Bay to the Mississippi Valley and southward to a remarkably restricted zone on the Gulf coast of Louisiana, with the main concentration from the delta of the Mississippi River to Vermilion Bay. In this confined area it is astonishingly abundant. It occurs in smaller numbers on the Texas coast as far south as Brownsville. The southward migration flight seems to be a tremendous one with few or no stopovers. During the southward migration records of occurrence of this species in the Mississippi Valley are comparatively uncommon, indicating that the majority of individuals make a non-stop flight over the United States, traveling steadily on until they reach their chosen winter resort. These facts have made the bird but little known, even to most ornithologists, and for many years it was regarded as a rare species or possibly only a peculiar color phase of its closest relative, the Snow Goose (Chen hyperborea). In migration the Blue Goose seldom straggles far from its accustomed route down the Mississippi Valley. Until the winter of 1934-35 there were comparatively few records of the species in the East, and a number of the coastal States had no records at all. Since November 1934, however, it has been observed in Massachusetts and in every state from New York southward to Georgia, except Delaware.