Similarity to the Greenland Greater
White-fronted Goose, A. a. flavirostris:
A recent article in Birding World (Kemp 2003) discussed separating
flavirostris from nominate Eurasian albifrons -
largely based upon a family group of two adults and six first-winter
birds seen in Norfolk in the company of one first-winter nominate
albifrons and a couple of Pink-footed Geese (Anser brachyrhynchus.)
To my knowledge, only one published article
has mentioned separating flavirostris from gambeli/elgasi:-
Kaufman 1994 - and this mostly urges caution rather than offers
a solution - and thus I feel that most Europeans and some
east coast North American birders may not realise the potential
pitfalls presented by some individuals of the Nearctic White-fronted
Goose group (frontalis, gambeli, elgasi.)
Here are links to some "flavirostris" on the
WWW - note that some may NOT be flavirostris!:
http://www.surfbirds.com/Rarities/ukstoppress-jan0502.html-
birds from Islay, Scotland - part of their main wintering range
http://cyberbirding.uib.no/photo/a_albifrons_01.php-
a bird from Norway
http://www.hi.is/~yannk/photosIS.html-
a bird from Iceland
http://space.virgilio.it/ebnitalia@virgilio.it/gallery/oca_lofla.htm-
a bird from Italy (LINK NOW BROKEN)
http://www.surfbird.onlinehome.de/mystery/photo031.jpg
- a bird from Germany (LINK NOW BROKEN)
http://www.dutchbirding.nl/pics/gwfgoose03.jpg
http://www.dutchbirding.nl/pics/gwfgoose02.jpg
http://www.dutchbirding.nl/pics/gwfgoose01.jpg
- a bird from the Netherlands (LINK BROKEN TEMPORARILY - ?)
The large GW Geese that I see in Fort Worth - whatever taxon they
are - have large, robust, strongly orange bills as juveniles.
This bill color can be retained well into the early Spring - even
after acquiring a significant amount of white feathering at the
bill base. These birds are slightly darker on the upperparts and
neck than the smaller frontalis, and thus would appear
clearly darker in comparision to albifrons (the form with
the palest upperparts.) Below, they are typically very pale on
the lower breast and belly, and initially on the flanks - but
they seem to replace the juvenile flank feathers in the late winter,
and the 2nd-generation feathers are much darker - perhaps as dark
as the the flank feathers of flavirostris. Adults are similar
but have varying amounts of black barring across the belly (usually
not very extensive.) The tail pattern has been mentioned as a
good ID feature for separating flavirostris from albifrons
- but I wonder if the sample size has been large enough to evaluate
this properly? Even with the rather small sample I've been able
to check, flavirostris does appear to have white tips to
the retrices that are much narrower and with less "bleed"
up the outer edge than on albifrons. My limited sample
of the large Texan birds indicates that the tail pattern is somewhat
variable; most have more white than flavirostris but less
than most albifrons. This is a rather small difference
except in extreme examples, and at least one Texan bird has appeared
to have the white tips as small as that stated as typical for
flavirostris. Another feature mentioned for flavirostris
is the thinner white flank line where the wing-coverts meet the
flanks; in juveniles and some adults this line can appear non-existent
while on albifrons it seems to be prominent in all ages.
The large Texan birds are variable in this regard, but at least
one first-winter individual seems to show no flank line at all.
The large Texan birds seem closer to albifrons in the prominence
of the pale edges to the scaps and tertials - but the fresh juv.
Fort Worth bird in early Winter seems to be almost unmarked in
this regard - similar to typical juv. flavirostris.
The Nearctic GWFG breed/molt in close proximity with large numbers
of other Nearctic forms of goose (Canada, Brant, Snow) - and those
wintering in Texas undertake some of the longest migrations of
all the Nearctic geese. Little is published on the GWFG breeding
east of Yukon Province, and it may well be that the ratio of frontalis
to gambeli(?) is much different to that found in the stronghold
of frontalis west of the Yukon. Thus these larger forms
are as likely to be vagrants to Eurasia/eastern North America
as are those aforementioned Nearctic goose taxa - all of which
are found in those regions with varying levels of frequency; indeed
frontalis should be occurring fairly regularly - but presumably
is undetectable among albifrons?
In summary, I feel that imm. gambeli/elgasi (and perhaps
frontalis? - I have limited detailed experience with them)
are much more like flavirostris than are albifrons,
and could lead to mis-identifications in Eurasia and eastern North
America. My tentative conclusion is that the color of the breast
and central belly is a key means of separating flavirostris from a potential gambeli/elgasi
on a bird that has a large orange bill, darker upperparts and flanks, smaller
white tips in the tail (than albifrons) and a limited white
flank line.
References:
AOU. 1887. Checklist of North American Birds.
AOU. 1895. Checklist of North American Birds. 2nd ed.
AOU. 1910. Checklist of North American Birds. 3rd ed.
AOU. 1931. Checklist of North American Birds. 4th ed.
AOU. 1957. Checklist of North American Birds. 5th ed.
AOU. 1982. 34th suppl. to the AOU Checklist of North American
Birds. Suppl to the Auk 99, no. 3, July 1982.
AOU. 1983. Checklist of North American Birds. 6th ed.
Baird, S.F,. J. Cassin, and G, N, Lawrence. 1858. Reports
of explorations... to the Pacific Ocean.l 9 part 2, Birds.
Banks, R. C. 1983. A Review of the Nomenclature of Populations
of the Greater White-fronted Goose, Anser albifrons (published?)
Bellrose, F. C. 1976. Ducks, Geese & Swans of North
America. 2nd ed.
Coues, E. 1882. Check-list of North American Birds. 2nd
ed.
Dalgety, C. F. and P Scott. 1948, A new race of the White-fronted
Goose. Bull. Brit Orn Club 68: 109-121.
Delacour, J. 1954. The waterfowl of the world. Vol . 1.
Delacour, and S. D. Ripley. 1975, Description of a new
subspecies of the White-fronted Goose Anser albifrons.
Amer. Mus. Novit. 2565.
Elgas, B. 1970. Breeding populations of Tule White-fronted
Geese in Northwestern Canada. Wilson Bull. Vol 82, no. 4.
Ely, C. R. and A. X. Dzubin. 1994. Greater White-fronted
Goose. The Birds of North America. No. 131.
Gavin, A. 1947. Birds of Perry River District, NW Territories.
Wison Bull. 59: 195-203.
Gmelin, J. 1789. Systema naturae. Vol. 1 part 2.
Hartlaub, G. 1852. descriptions de quelques nouvelles especies
d'oiseaux. Rev. et Mag., 2d ser., 4: 1-7.
Hellmayr, C. E. and B. Conover. 1948. Catalogue of birds
of the Americas. Part 1, no. 2. Zool. Ser. Field Mus,. Nat. Hist.,
Vol. 13, part 1, no. 2.
Johnsgard, P. A. 1975. Waterfowl of the World.
Johnsgard, P. A. 1978. Ducks, Geese, and Swans of the World.
Johnsgard, P. A. 1979. Order Anseriformes. In Checklist of birds
of the World, Vol. 1, 2nd ed., Mayr and Cottrell, Mus. Comp. Zool.
Kaufman, K. 1994. Point/Counterpoint. Greenland White-fronted
Geese - Over-Reported? Birding Vol. 26 no. 6, pp 380-382.
Kemp, J. 2003. Identification of Greenland White-fronted
Goose. Birding World Vol. 14 no. 3, pp103-105.
Kortright, F. H. 1942. The ducks, geese, and Swans of North
America. Wildlife Man. Inst., Wash, D.C.
Krogman, B. 1978. The Tule Goose mystery - a problem in
taxonomy. American Birds 32(2):164-166.
Kuroda, N. 1929. On the subspecific validity of Anser
gambelli Harlaub. Condor 31: 173-180.
Lensink, C. J. 1969. The distirbution of recoveries from
White-fronted Geese (Anser albifrons frontalis) banded in North
America. Bur. Sprot Fisheries and Wildlife. unpub. report.
McAtee, W. L. 1944 Anser gambelli. Auk 61: 294-295.
Madge, S. and H. Burn. 1988. Wildfowl: An identification
guide to the ducks, geese, and swans of the world.
Miller, H. W., A Dzubin, and J. T. Sweet. 1968. Distribution
and mortality of Saskatchewan-banded White-fronted Geese. Trans.
33rd N. Amer. Wildlife and Nat. Res. Conference, pp101-119.
Oberholser, H. C. 1974. The bird life of Texas.
Palmer, R. S., ed. 1976. Handbook of N, American Birds.
Vol. 2.
Peters, J. L. 1931. Checklist of birds of the World. Vol.
1.
Portenko, L. A. 1972. Birds of the Chukchi Peninsula and
Wrangel Island.
Scopoli. G. A. 1769. Annus I, historico-Naturlais. Lipsiae.
Stone, W. 1900. A study of the type specimens of birds
in the collection of the Academy of Nat. Sciences of Phil.....
Stone, W. 1910. William Gambel, M. D. Cassinia, no. xiv: 1-8.
Swarth, N. S., and H. C. Bryant. 1917. A study of the races
of the White-fronted Geese (Anser albifrons) occurring in California.
Univ. Calif. Publ. Zool. 17: 209-222.
Texas Ornithological Society. 1995. Checklist of the Birds
of Texas. 3rd ed.
Timm, D. E., and R. Sellers. 1981(?). Investigation of
the Tule White-fronted Geese in Alaska: 1980 progress report,
management implications and plans for 1981. AK Dept. Fish and
Game, unpub.
Timm, D. E., M. L. wege, and D. S. Gilmer. 1982. Current status
and management challenges for Tule White-fronted Goose. Condor
52: 63-68.
Todd, F.S. 1997. Handbook of Waterfowl Identification.
Todd, W. E. C. 1950. Nomenclature of White-fronted Goose.
Condor 52: 63-68.
Vaurie, C. 1965. The birds of the Palearctic Fauna. Non-Passeriformes.
Vaurie, C. 1980. Ducks, Geese and Swans of North America. 3rd.
ed.
