Distribution and Habitat Use of Ross's and Lesser Snow Geese During Late Brood Rearing

2007 ◽  
Vol 71 (7) ◽  
pp. 2230 ◽  
Author(s):  
STUART M. SLATTERY ◽  
RAY T. ALISAUSKAS
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Use ◽  
Brood Rearing ◽  
Snow Geese ◽  
Lesser Snow Geese

Habitat use and behaviour of Greater Snow Geese during movements from nesting to brood-rearing areas

2006 ◽  
Vol 84 (8) ◽  
pp. 1096-1103 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Mainguy ◽  
G. Gauthier ◽  
J.-F. Giroux ◽  
I. Duclos
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Use ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Chen Caerulescens ◽  
Brood Rearing ◽  
Snow Geese ◽  
Greater Snow Goose ◽  
Chen Caerulescens Atlantica ◽  
Precocial Birds ◽  
Aerial Tracking

Many precocial birds make long-distance movements with their young after hatch to reach the best foraging sites. On Bylot Island, Nunavut, a large number of Greater Snow Goose ( Chen caerulescens atlantica L., 1758) families move 30 km from the main nesting colony (MNC) to reach the main brood-rearing area (MBR) soon after hatch. Geese moving from the MNC to the MBR generally rear lighter and smaller goslings than geese that avoid this movement by both nesting and rearing their brood at the MBR. In this study, we tested the hypotheses that use of low-quality habitats and an increase in the time spent walking at the expense of foraging during movements could explain the reduced growth of goslings in those families. We conducted visual observations to compare habitat use and selection as well as behaviour of geese during brood movements from the MNC to the MBR (i.e., at a transit area) with those of families that had already settled at the MBR. We also conducted aerial tracking to monitor habitat use of 16 radio-marked females during and after brood movements. Streams, wet polygons, and lakes, considered high-quality habitats in terms of feeding opportunities and predator refuges, were preferred, while upland, a low-quality habitat, was avoided at both the transit area and the MBR. However, broods were found in the upland habitat more often during movements than once settled on a rearing site. The behaviour of unmarked geese at the transit site did not differ from that of geese at the MBR. We suggest that reduced food intake in low-quality habitats during movements, but not the increase in time spent walking, may explain the reduction in growth observed at fledging in goslings moving from the MNC to the MBR.

Spring Habitat Use and Diets of Midcontinent Adult Lesser Snow Geese

1992 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ray T. Alisauskas ◽  
C. Davison Ankney
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Use ◽  
Snow Geese ◽  
Lesser Snow Geese

Habitat Use by Greater Snow Geese During the Brood-Rearing Period

ARCTIC ◽  
1984 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-François Giroux ◽  
Yves Bédard ◽  
Jean Bédard
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Use ◽  
Brood Rearing ◽  
Snow Geese

Temporal Changes in Habitat Selection and Nest Spacing in a Colony of Ross' and Lesser Snow Geese

The Auk ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 335-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Robert McLandress
Keyword(s):  
Nearest Neighbor ◽  
Average Distance ◽  
Habitat Preferences ◽  
Nearest Neighbors ◽  
Nest Density ◽  
Snow Goose ◽  
Snow Geese ◽  
Lesser Snow Geese ◽  
Average Size ◽  
Island Habitats

Abstract I studied the nesting colony of Ross' Geese (Chen rossii) and Lesser Snow Geese (C. caerulescens caerulescens) at Karrak Lake in the central Arctic of Canada in the summer of 1976. Related studies indicated that this colony had grown from 18,000 birds in 1966-1968 to 54,500 birds in 1976. In 1976, geese nested on islands that were used in the late 1960's and on an island and mainland sites that were previously unoccupied. Average nest density in 1976 was three-fold greater than in the late 1960's. Consequently, the average distance to nearest neighbors of Ross' Geese in 1976 was half the average distance determined 10 yr earlier. The mean clutch size of Ross' Geese was greater in island habitats where nest densities were high than in less populated island or mainland habitats. The average size of Snow Goose clutches did not differ significantly among island habitats but was larger at island than at mainland sites. Large clutches were most likely attributable to older and/or earlier nesting females. Habitat preferences apparently differed between species. Small clutches presumably indicated that young geese nested in areas where nest densities were low. The establishment of mainland nesting at Karrak Lake probably began with young Snow Geese using peripheral areas of the colony. Young Ross' Geese nested in sparsely populated habitats on islands to a greater extent than did Snow Geese. Ross' Geese also nested on the mainland but in lower densities than Ross' Geese nesting in similar island habitats. Successful nests with the larger clutches had closer conspecific neighbors than did successful nests with smaller clutches. The species composition of nearest neighbors changed significantly with distance from Snow Goose nests but not Ross' Goose nests. Nesting success was not affected by the species of nearest neighbor, however. Because they have complementary antipredator adaptations, Ross' and Snow geese may benefit by nesting together.

Weights of Lesser Snow Geese Taken on Their Winter Range

1979 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 531 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward L. Flickinger ◽  
Eric G. Bolen
Keyword(s):  
Winter Range ◽  
Snow Geese ◽  
Lesser Snow Geese

Prediction of reproductive success and failure in lesser snow geese based on early season climatic variables

1998 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. R. Skinner ◽  
R. L. Jefferies ◽  
T. J. Carleton ◽  
R. F. Rockwell&dagger K. F. Abraham
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Climatic Variables ◽  
Early Season ◽  
Snow Geese ◽  
Lesser Snow Geese

Use of Supplemental Food by Breeding Ross's Geese and Lesser Snow Geese: Evidence for Variable Anorexia

The Auk ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 116 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark L. Gloutney ◽  
Ray T. Alisauskas ◽  
Keith A. Hobson ◽  
Alan D. Afton
Keyword(s):  
Supplemental Food ◽  
Snow Geese ◽  
Lesser Snow Geese ◽  
Ross's Geese

Long-term vegetation changes in a Snow Goose nesting habitat

1996 ◽  
Vol 74 (5) ◽  
pp. 965-969 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Ganter ◽  
Fred Cooke ◽  
Pierre Mineau
Keyword(s):  
Salt Marsh ◽  
Ground Cover ◽  
Habitat Destruction ◽  
Food Plants ◽  
Nesting Habitat ◽  
Snow Goose ◽  
Brood Rearing ◽  
Nest Sites ◽  
Bare Sediment ◽  
Snow Geese

Vegetation in a small section of nesting habitat in a Lesser Snow Goose colony was mapped in 1976 and again in 1993. During the 17-year period, ground cover changed dramatically from being dominated by salt-marsh graminoids and short grasses to being dominated by willows and areas of bare sediment. Lyme grass, Elymus arenarius, a plant strongly favoured by Snow Geese when selecting their nest sites, which covered 15% of the ground in 1976, had completely disappeared by 1993. Although the area had contained 79 Snow Goose nests in 1976, no nests remained in 1993. Degradation of the nesting habitat is caused by foraging activities of the geese themselves during the prenesting and nesting phase: salt-marsh graminoids and short grasses are removed by grubbing and the sediment is exposed; E. arenarius plants are removed by shoot pulling. Both clutch size and hatching success can be negatively affected by the decline in available food plants, and, presumably as a consequence, the area was abandoned by breeding geese. This habitat destruction and subsequent abandonment of nesting areas by breeding geese is a process similar to that documented for brood-rearing areas of Lesser Snow Geese.

scholarly journals A comparison of drone imagery and ground-based methods for estimating the extent of habitat destruction by lesser snow geese (Anser caerulescens caerulescens) in La Pérouse Bay

PLoS ONE ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. e0217049 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew F. Barnas ◽  
Brian J. Darby ◽  
Gregory S. Vandeberg ◽  
Robert F. Rockwell ◽  
Susan N. Ellis-Felege
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Destruction ◽  
Snow Geese ◽  
Lesser Snow Geese ◽  
Anser Caerulescens Caerulescens ◽  
Anser Caerulescens
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