Earth and Space News: 75 overwintering geese shot dumped Missouri February 2018

Showing posts with label 75 overwintering geese shot dumped Missouri February 2018. Show all posts

Sunday, February 25, 2018

North American Snow Geese Habitats From Alaska and Canada to Mexico

Summary: North American snow geese habitats need breeding in Alaska and Canada and, despite 75 ambushed geese in Missouri Feb. 17, 2018, wintering south to Mexico.

snow goose (Anser caerulescens) takeoff at Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex, northern California; Monday, Nov. 16, 2009, 08:52:15; photo by George Lamson: US Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters (USFWS Headquarters), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Unknown agents with unknown agendas ambushed 75 family-flocked Ross's geese and snow geese on the migratory species' wintering grounds in North American snow geese habitats in Cass County, Missouri, Feb. 17, 2018.

Snow geese bear their common name for snowy bodies and homelands and the subspecies common names lesser and greater snow geese because of biogeography and size. They claim the respective species and subspecies scientific names Anser caerulescens, Anser caerulescens caerulescens and Anser caerulescens atlanticus (goose [with] blue-gray [form along the] Atlantic [coast]). Respective descriptions in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1778) and in 1927 by Frederic Hedge Kennard (Nov. 19, 1865-Feb. 24, 1937) dominate taxonomies.

Lesser and greater subspecies' life cycles expect High Arctic tundra with respective Gulf and Atlantic coastal plain bulrushes, cattails, cord-grass, panic-grass, reeds, salt-grass, sedge and wild-rice.

May through July furnish lesser and greater snow geese life cycles with nesting season months at High Arctic tundra colonies frequently favored by Ross's geese populations.

Lesser and greater snow geese graze on aquatic and terrestrial leaves, roots, seeds, stems and tubers and on winter grains and young leaves in agricultural fields. Lesser subspecies in northernmost Alaska and central-northwesternmost Canada and greater subspecies in central-northeasternmost Canada have one 2- to 6-egg annual brood in down-softened, plant-lined, hummock-scraped nests. Lesser and greater snow geese life cycles impel lifetime-mated, monogamous-paired females and males toward family-flocked, multi-generational investigations of identical breeding and wintering itineraries year after year.

North American snow geese habitats juggle common immature and mature white forms and rare immature and mature blue forms, both with elongated bills, heads and necks.

Immature blue forms keep gray bills, heads, legs, underparts, upper-parts and webfeet whereas immature whites know gray bills, legs and webfeet and gray-brown underparts and upper-parts.

Mature blue forms look dark-bellied, dark-eyed, pink-bellied, pink-footed, pink-legged and white-headed and layer dark flight and pale wing feathers on black-brown lower necks, underparts and upper-parts. White-bodied, white-headed adults with black-patched bills, dark eyes and flight feathers, gray wing patches and pink legs maintain direct, strong flight patterns with moderate wing beats. Bald eagles, bears, collectors, coyotes, foxes, hunters and wolves versus rough-legged hawks and snowy owls respectively number among lesser and greater snow geese predators and protectors.

North American snow geese habitats offer season's coldest temperature ranges, northward to southward, from minus 60 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 51.11 to 18.33 degrees Celsius).

Breeding grounds from northernmost Quebec through Alaska and wintering grounds from New Jersey through New Mexico, Nebraska, Illinois, Kentucky and everywhere in-between promote snow geese lifespans.

Lesser subspecies queue up 25- to 31-inch (63.5- to 78.74-centimeter) lengths, 51- to 65-inch (129.54- to 165.1-centimeter) wingspans and 60-to 96-ounce (1,700.97- to 2,721.55-gram) weights. Greater subspecies reveal 27- to 33-inch (68.58- to 83.82-centimeter) head-body lengths, 53- to 66-inch (134.62- to 167.64-centimeter) wingspans and 95.24- to 134.04-ounce (2,700- to 3,800-gram) weights. Lesser and greater subspecies signal bunched or v-shaped flight sessions with high-pitched heenk or nasal kow-luk, kowk or whouk calls and feeding sessions with hu-hu-hur calls.

North American snow geese habitats treasure their twice-yearly travelers, especially the 75 Ross's and snow geese terminated and tossed in Cass County, Missouri, Feb. 17, 2018.

Northern portion of west central Missouri's Cass County is the site of an incident of dumping 75 dead geese, including Ross's geese; photo by Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC): Missouri Dept. of Conservation @moconservation, via Facebook Feb.20, 2018

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Bent, Arthur Cleveland. 1937. "In Memoriam: Frederic Hedge Kennard 1865-1937." The Auk, vol. 54, no. 3 (July 1937): 341-348. Lancaster PA: The American Ornithologists' Union.
Available via SORA (Searchable Ornithological Research Archive) @ https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/v054n03/p0341-p0348a.pdf

Kennard, F.H. (Frederick Hedge). 1927. "The Specific Status of the Greater Snow Goose." Proceedings of the New England Zoölogical Club, vol. 9: 85-93.

Linnaeus, Carl. 1758. "10. Anas caerulescens." Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis, Tomus I, Editio Decima, Reformata: 124. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727029

Marriner, Derdriu. 25 February 2018. "North American Snow Geese Habitats From Alaska and Canada to Mexico." EarthandSpaceNews. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/02/north-american-snow-geese-habitats-from.html

Peterson, Alan P., M.D. "Anser caerulescens (Linnaeus) 1758." Zoonomen: Zoological Nomenclature Resource > Birds of the World -- Current Valid Scientific Avian Names > Anseriformes > Anatidae > Anser.
Available @ http://www.zoonomen.net/avtax/anse.html

Vuilleumier, François, Editor-in-Chief. 2016. American Museum of Natural History Birds of North America. New York NY: DK Publishing.

Saturday, February 24, 2018

North American Ross's Geese Habitats From Canada Southward into Mexico

Summary: North American Ross's geese habitats need breeding grounds in Arctic Canada and migration routes and wintering grounds into and beyond the United States.

Ross's goose in Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary, West Alton, St. Charles County, east central Missouri; Friday, March 17, 2017, 12:42:08: Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren (Wildreturn), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Seventy-five members of Ross's goose and snow goose overwintering populations are dead and their bodies abandoned in Missouri, one of North American Ross's geese habitats, according to online sources Feb. 20-21, 2018.

Ross's geese bear their common name as namesake members of the Anserinae subfamily with larger, longer-necked swans and the Anatidae duck, goose and swan waterfowl family. The same-meaninged scientific name Anser rossii commemorates Bernard Rogan Ross (Sep. 25, 1827-June 21, 1874), Hudson's Bay Company factor at Fort Resolution, Northwest Territories, Canada, 1843-1871. Scientific designations defer to descriptions in 1861 by John Cassin (Sep. 6, 1816-Jan. 10, 1869), unpaid curator of Pennsylvania's Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences from 1842.

Ross's goose life cycles expect breeding grounds in northern and northeast coastal Nunavut and southern coastal Baffin Island and wintering grounds in fields, grasslands and wetlands.

June through August function in 21-year Ross's goose life cycles as nesting season months at High Arctic tundra colonies with lesser snow geese (Anser caerulescens caerulescens).

Ross's geese get together in family flocks to graze on grasses, sedges and small grains and go northward and southward along midwestern and western migration routes. They have one 3 to 5-egg yearly brood in plant-lined ground nests along Hudson Bay islands and in Arctic Canada's Queen Maud Gulf Migratory Bird Sanctuary. Ross's goose life cycles involve lifetime-mated, monogamous females and males in extended, multi-generational family flocks that inhabit the same breeding and nonbreeding homelands year after year.

North American Ross's geese habitats juggle rare short-necked blue forms with dark-patched bills and white immature and mature forms with furrowed necks and short triangular bills.

Immature Ross's geese know brown little eyes with dusky lines, dark short triangular bills, dark wing tips, gray-washed white upperparts, light gray crowns and short necks.

Mature blue forms look blue-gray basally along pink-red bills, brown in eyes and upper-parts, pink-red in web-footed legs and white in head, neck, rump and tail. Mature white forms manifest black wing tips, brown little eyes, pink-red bills with blue-gray warts, pink-red web-footed legs, round head and white neck, underparts and upper-parts. Agro-industrialists, bald eagles, bears, collectors, coyotes, foxes, gulls, hunters, jaegers and wolves versus rough-legged hawks and snowy owls respectively number among Ross's geese predators and protectors.

North American Ross's geese habitats offer season's coldest temperature ranges, northward to southward, from minus 60 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 51.11 to 18.33 degrees Celsius).

Wintering grounds in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas and Mexico promote Ross's goose life cycles.

Ross's geese queue up among less aquatic, more terrestrial of waterfowl even though their direct flight patterns with rapid wing beats qualify them as strong fliers. Adults reveal 44.79- to 66.32-ounce (1,224- to 1,880-gram), 45.28- to 51.18-inch (115- to 130-centimeter) and 20.87- to 25.98-inch (53- to 66-centimeter) weights, wingspans and head-body lengths. They sound harsh when flying and growling kork or kowk, high-pitched when cackling keek-keek-keeek, loud when calling uuggh-uuggh-uuggh, quiet when feeding and sad when whispering uuuhhhh.

Who in Cass County terminated 75 Ross's and snow geese whose extended families travel between North American Ross's geese habitats and North American snow geese habitats?

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

photo by Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC): Missouri Dept. of Conservation @moconservation, via Facebook Feb. 20, 2018, @ https://www.facebook.com/moconservation/posts/10156204954897962

For further information:

Bowsfield, Hartwell. "Ross, Bernard Rogan." Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. X (1871-1880). Toronto and Quebec City, Canada: University of Toronto/Université Laval, 1972.
Available @ http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/ross_bernard_rogan_10E.html

Cassin, J. (John). "Communication in Reference to a New Species of Goose From Arctic America: 3. Anser rossii Baird." Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, vol. 13 (1861): 73. Philadelphia PA: Academy of Natural Sciences, 1862.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/26312779

Peterson, Alan P., M.D. "Anser rossii Cassin 1861." Zoonomen: Zoological Nomenclature Resource > Birds of the World -- Current Valid Scientific Avian Names > Anseriformes > Anatidae > Anser.
Available @ http://www.zoonomen.net/avtax/anse.html

Vuilleumier, François, Editor-in-Chief. American Museum of Natural History Birds of North America. New York NY: DK Publishing, 2016.