Emperor Goose Identification

Adult

Small and stocky goose with a short pink bill, clean white head, and orange legs. Body is dark silver-gray except for white tail feathers.

Juvenile

Small stocky goose with a short bill. Juveniles have a dark bill, gray neck, dull yellow-orange legs, and show gray mottling on the head.

Adult

Small goose with a small pink bill, white head, and blackish neck.

Adult and immatures

Immature

In flight, the upperwing is mostly silver and contrasts with the blackish trailing edge. Note white tail feathers bracketed by dark feathers above and below.

Immature (with Greater White-fronted Goose)

Stocky goose that is similar in size to Greater White-fronted Goose (left). Body is scalloped silver and dark except for white tail feathers. Head and back of the neck are white mottled with gray—this pattern is less crisp than on an adult.

Adults

Habitat

These geese don't migrate very far away from their breeding grounds. In winter, they gather in flocks to feed in the rocky intertidal zones along Alaska's coastline in places like Kodiak Island, the Aleutian Islands, and the Alaska Peninsula.

Immature

Immatures in their first winter look like adults but have variable dark speckling on the face and head.