RAINYRAMBLES
Geese and swans to look for this winter
BY REBECCA LEXA
Fall migration is now at a close, but
it has brought us a wealth of winter
waterfowl!
While some species, like the mallard
and the Canada goose, are found in the
Columbia-Pacific region year-round, oth-
ers are only part-time residents. Now’s the
time to keep your eyes on the water, partic-
ularly in places like Willapa Bay, Youngs
Bay, the Columbia River estuary and their
tributaries.
The term waterfowl refers specifically
to ducks, geese and swans. While there
are other birds found in and around water-
ways, waterfowl have four specific adapta-
tions that define them: a broad and flat bill,
webbed feet, a long neck and oily feathers.
Sometimes these traits may be relative;
the bill of a common merganser, for exam-
ple, looks quite narrow compared to that of
a northern shoveler. However, both ducks
demonstrate the variety of the waterfowl
who overwinter here.
These birds spent the summer nesting
and raising their young further north, pri-
marily in Canada and Alaska. Once the
young fledged and days grew shorter, huge
flocks of waterfowl began journeys that
could take them thousands of miles south.
While some only stop in our area to rest
and feed before continuing on, others find
our relatively mild winters to be more than
balmy enough.
What’s really amazing is the sheer vari-
ety of waterfowl we get! From tiny green-
winged teal ducks to the magnificent trum-
peter swan, winter waterfowl come in all
sizes, colors and with quite an array of
unique characteristics.
Willapa National Wildlife Refuge has
an excellent checklist of area bird species,
including waterfowl on their website at
tinyurl.com/3u7zda37.
Here’s a list of some of the species you
may get to see this winter:
Geese
Geese are large birds with long necks.
Generally speaking, males and females
have similar coloration, though juveniles
may have different colors than the adults.
Unlike ducks, they don’t have non-breed-
ing/eclipse plumage (more on that in my
next column.)
Both Canada geese and their smaller
lookalikes the cackling geese can be found
10 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
Roy Western
A trumpter swan on Black Lake.
Lynette Rae McAdams
Wild Canada geese.
morph in which much of the body and neck
may be covered in blueish-gray feathers,
but the head usually remains white.
This blue morph is similar to the
emperor goose, a very rare visitor to our
area. Usually staying further north even in
winter, it is almost entire blue-gray other
than the head, back of the neck and part of
the tail. Its bill is pink rather than orange.
Chances are if you see a blue-gray goose
with a white head, it’s more likely a Ross’s
or snow goose.
Geese can be found on lakes, wetlands
and other waterways, but also enjoy grazing
in pastures and other open areas.
Swans
Waterfowl at Black Lake on the Long Beach Peninsula.
in the area year-round, but are much more
common in winter, when they may be
found in large flocks. Both have brown
bodies, with black heads, necks and feet.
They also have a prominent white patch on
the face.
However, winter brings other species,
too!
Brant geese look similar to Can-
ada and cackling geese, but have a small
patch of white on the neck rather than the
face.They’re usually just passing through
the area.
However, if you see a group of greater
white-fronted geese with a white patch by
their orange bills, you can count on them to
stick around a while.
Two similar species of white goose com-
monly pass through the North Coast. Snow
geese and Ross’s geese are more compact
than some of the other goose species on
the North Coast, and both are white with
orange beaks and legs and black wingtips.
However, the snow goose has a black
“smile line” on the lower portion of its
beak, whereas the Ross’s goose does not.
The Ross’s is also a bit smaller overall, and
the beak shorter. Both species have a blue
North America only has two native spe-
cies of swan, and they look almost exactly
alike.
Both the trumpeter swan and tundra
swan are large white birds with black bills
and legs; juveniles may be gray in color
with a large pink spot on the bill. However,
some subspecies of tundra swan may have
a very small yellow patch on the beak near
the eye. Tundra swans are slightly smaller,
and when the birds’ heads are viewed from
the front, the line dividing the head and bill
is V-shaped in trumpeter swans, U-shaped
in tundra swans.
Lakes are excellent places to look for
swans. Black Lake in Ilwaco, Washington,
is especially well-known for its swan view-
ing location.
In my next column I’ll continue explor-
ing winter waterfowl with a feature on
ducks!
Rebecca Lexa is an Oregon Master Nat-
uralist, nature educator and writer living
on the Long Beach Peninsula. More about
her work may be found at rebeccalexa.com.