Lesser Snow Goose

Each winter Lesser Snow Geese, Anser caerulescens caerulescens, descend on farm fields and marshes at the mouths of the Skagit and Fraser Rivers to feed on marsh plants and pasture grasses. This population of geese summers and breeds on Wrangel Island, north of the Arctic Circle in Russia. Between mid-January and late February the entire northern population of Lesser Snow Geese, nearly 40,000 birds, are on the Skagit Delta. This portrait was made with a 1200mm lens.

"The Wrangel Island Lesser Snow Goose population is of international importance. This is the only population of Snow Geese wintering in North America that breeds on a separate continent and they have been "red-listed" as a species of concern in Russia, being the only remaining population in Asia." -- Environment Canada