Identification
Medium-sized goose with extensive range across the Northern Hemisphere. On adults note bright orange legs, white face, and variable amount of black splotching on belly. Bill color varies from orange to pinkish. Immatures lack white face and black on belly and have duller orange legs and bill. Superficially similar to domestic barnyard geese but smaller without the enormous pot-bellied appearance of domestic birds. Bill color is helpful to separate from both species of Bean-Goose and Pink-footed Goose. Also compare with very similar Lesser White-fronted Goose in Europe and Asia, which is smaller and more compact, and has a stubby bill and yellow eyering. Breeds in tundra and taiga habitats; winters in fields, agricultural areas, and wetlands. Usually found in flocks, sometimes mixed with other species of geese.