Greater white-fronted goose––a goose with family bonds that can last a lifetime

On a recent float trip down the Kougarok River, families of greater white-fronted geese hustled from the water’s edge, across gravel bars to disappear into the tundra as our kayaks approached. The downy goslings were a comical sight with their stubby, featherless wings extended straight out from their sides for balance as they teetered hastily after their flightless, molting parents.

If caught by surprise between the river and a cutbank, the parents swam or ran ahead calling loudly to capture our attention while the goslings froze in place, virtually invisible against the dirt bank––a common strategy to avoid detection by predators.

The greater white-fronted goose breeds in tundra and taiga regions across much of the circumpolar north. On the Seward Peninsula their noisy flocks arrive in May. Some are passing migrants, and some are nonbreeders that stay here to feed and molt for the summer. Others come to breed in open tundra habitats on the peninsula, returning to the same nesting areas year after year.

White-fronts are long-lived birds that form life-time pair bonds. Many goose species mate for life, and migrate together along with their young of the year. But the family bonds of white-fronted geese can last longer than most.

Some young stay with their parents throughout the following breeding season and up until they form their own pair bonds prior to breeding at age three. Parent and sibling associations can last their lifetimes.

White-fronts nest on the ground, usually near water, in areas where grasses, sedges and low shrubs provide cover. The female picks the nest site and makes a scrape, which is a depression in the ground. She weaves a nest bowl from the surrounding grasses or sedges and lines it with plant material, and later with down.

The female incubates up to eight eggs for 22 to 27 days. She is very attentive, taking only a few short breaks per day to bathe, drink and feed. Her mate stays close by, defending the nest site from intruders, sometimes with help from the previous year’s young.

The goslings hatch with open eyes and are covered with warm, yellowy down. Within 24 hours they are ready to leave the nest. Goslings quickly learn to walk and swim well, and follow their parents closely to areas with abundant food where they feed themselves.

The hardy young are only brooded in very cold, wet or windy weather. They fledge in 38 to 45 days.

White-fronted geese nest in solitary pairs and are territorial during incubation. But once brood rearing begins, families aggregate and move together from nesting to rearing areas.

On my recent float down the Kougarok River, we saw up to five families with dozens of goslings moving together along the river.

Outside of the nesting season, white-fronted geese are highly gregarious, forming flocks and roosting together, often with other goose species.

White-fronted geese are almost entirely vegetarians. During the breeding season they graze on stems and roots of sedges, grasses, horsetails, and other plants, and pick berries and buds.

In the water the geese forage on aquatic vegetation. They submerge their heads and necks, or tip tails-up like dabbling ducks to nibble on underwater plants. In winter they feed on seeds, grains and grasses.

By mid-August white-fronted geese on the Seward Peninsula gather at migratory staging areas along coastal lagoons, river deltas and flats. Fall migration gets underway during the last half of August and most white-fronted geese leave by early September.

Greater white-fronted geese from the Seward Peninsula are part of the mid-continent population. They migrate through interior Alaska and along the central flyway through Alberta and Saskatchewan, wintering from Louisiana and Texas, into Mexico.

In 1989 when Kessel published Birds of the Seward Peninsula, Alaska, white-fronted geese were reported to be uncommon visitors and rare breeders on the peninsula. But things have changed since then and these geese are now commonly seen during migration, and they breed regularly in suitable open habitats on the peninsula.

Throughout its range, this large goose is an important resource for subsistence and sport hunters. Excessive harvest along the flyways and breeding grounds resulted in large declines in North American white-fronted goose populations through the 1970’s. Since then, more restrictive hunting regulations and co-management agreements with subsistence users have allowed the population to rebound.

Today, the greater white-fronted goose is generally widespread and abundant, thanks to the effectiveness of conservation measures. At a time when so many bird species of the region and elsewhere are in decline, it is a relief to write about a species that is more abundant than it was 40 years ago.

In the Nome area, Safety Sound is a stopover site for greater white-fronted geese in the spring, and a staging area for them before fall migration. If you care about protecting this critical habitat for geese and so many other birds, fish, marine mammals and subsistence activities, submit comments to the Department of Environmental Conservation in opposition to IPOP dredging in Safety Sound before August 5, 2024.

The fact sheet and documents for the DEC permit can be requested by contacting Allan Nakanishi at allan.nakanishi@alaska.gov; phone: 907-269-4028 or 555 Cordova Street, Anchorage, AK 99501. For online copies see http://dec.alaska.gov/water/wastewater. Comments must be received or postmarked by August 5, 2024.