Western Bird Guide: Birds of the Rockies and West to the Pacific

by Charles K. Reed

WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE.

171a. Anser albifrons gambeli. 27 inches.

These birds may be recognized by their mottled plumage, dark head and white forehead; bill and feet orange. They are the most common on the western coast and large numbers of them are sold in the markets.

Their food consists mostly of vegetable matter, frogs, snails, and insects.

Nest.—These are placed upon the ground in a slight depression and made of dried grasses, feathers and down. Eggs are from four to nine in number, of a dull buff color (3.00 × 2.05).

Range.—Western and central North America, breeds on the Arctic coast south to the lower Yukon Valley, winters from British Columbia to southern California. During the spring flight immense flocks of these birds pass through Oregon and follow down the west coast.

CANADA GOOSE.

172. Branta canadensis canadensis. 38 inches.

This species is the most widely known of the family, and is the most numerous. Its familiar “honk” has long been the signal of the coming spring, and the V-shaped formation in which the flocks migrate is always an object of interest to every one; large birds, with long necks outstretched, wings beating the air in unison, and all following the leadership of one bird in their journey over their invisible path.