Comments on: ENDANGERED SPECIES: Careless hunters supposedly mistake trumpeter swans for snow geese

By: long-time snow goose researcher

long-time snow goose researcher — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 22:09:11 +0000

Just a quick clarification: snow geese do not “go through different color phases”. There is a “blue” morph (with varying amounts of darkness) and a white one, but they are genetically like being brunette or blonde. Immature birds do alter their colour as they mature, both in plumage and in bill and leg colour, but young blues (very dark – slate grey) are readily distinguished from young snows (light grey), even at hatching (“blue” versus yellow down, black versus grey legs), and do not cross over to the other morph.
And, of course, no flying swan could be mistaken for any snow goose by anyone paying attention.

By: 30 January 2009 « blueollie

30 January 2009 « blueollie — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 13:42:19 +0000

[...] hunters shoot rare birds, mistaking them for geese. I’ve seen both tundra swans and snow geese in flight, and I don’t understand how hunters can [...]

By: Jerry Greer

Jerry Greer — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 02:37:54 +0000

Look, if a hunter cannot visually distinguish the difference between a trumpeter Swan and snow geese that hunter should NOT be carrying a gun at all! The first and foremost thing would be the black wing patches of the snow goose and the second would be the neck length and sheer size difference of the swan. As I’ve stated more times than I can count, If a person decides to become a hunter. Not only do they need to understand and master using a firearm. They need to understand everything about the animal they are hunting. This definitely stresses animal recognition! This is why so many hunters have been shot during deer season. Idiots always state, “I’m so sorry, I thought that he was a Buck”! As they haul the dead person away to the morgue!