Greater White-fronted Goose

The Greater White-fronted Goose is a widespread circumpolar breeder found across Arctic tundra in North America, Europe, and Asia. Its warm brown, evenly scaled plumage and the diagnostic white feathering around the base of the bill set it apart from other brown geese, and its irregular black belly markings have earned it the popular nickname "specklebelly" among waterfowl hunters and birders alike.

Body and breast feathers are warm grayish-brown broadly edged in buff or whitish, producing a neat scaled or scalloped texture across the back and flanks. Belly feathers show irregular black blotches and bars that vary greatly between individuals and increase with age, a pattern not found in Snow Geese, Canada Geese, or Greylag Geese. A narrow ring of white feathers rims the base of the pinkish-orange bill, contrasting with the darker brown face. Legs and feet are orange. Compare with the Greylag Goose, which lacks both the white bill base and the black belly bars, and the Bean Goose, which is darker overall without belly barring.

Sexes look alike. Juveniles lack the white face ring and black belly bars entirely, appearing plain brown, and gradually acquire both features over their first one to two years as they mature. Adults molt flight feathers on the breeding grounds in a flightless period during summer.

Breeds on wet Arctic and subarctic tundra across North America, Greenland, and Eurasia. Winters on wetlands, coastal marshes, and agricultural fields at temperate latitudes, including the southern United States, Mexico, and parts of Europe and Asia, depending on the population.

Grazes on grasses, sedges, and waste grain in farm fields, often forming large mixed flocks with other geese on wintering grounds. Nests on the open tundra, timed to snowmelt. Known for a distinctive high-pitched, laughing or yelping call given in flight, quite different from the deeper honks of larger geese, and often the easiest way to detect a flock overhead before it comes into view.