# Question about Snow/Blue Color Phases???



## jeepguy (Nov 7, 2005)

This past weekend I shot 2 Blue Geese. I am not familiar with the species, because I have not hunted them before. I am assuming the geese I shot (pictured below) are blues. Here are my questions....Are these blues. Why are they all blue and so not have white heads like most of them look like in pictures. Is this some type of phase, and if so what is the signifigance of an all blue one vs. a blue one w/ a white head? Are these basically snow geese, just a different color?
[siteimg]5419[/siteimg]


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## Chuck Smith (Feb 22, 2005)

Those are juvy blues.

The adult have the white heads......


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## Invector (Jan 13, 2006)

All 3 of those birds are young blue geese. If you look at the wings of an adult and take a look at the wings of the young you will see they are the same. Also a young snow will be lighter in color with white and gray. The young blues you shot there are that blueish gray color.


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

What is amazing is that 15-20 years ago blues made up maybe 10 -15% of a flock and were highly prized because of that. Now many of the flocks you see are primarily blues. I haven't really heard a scientific reason why.


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## SASKATOONGOOSEHUNTER (Aug 25, 2005)

It's a dominant gene, soon they'll be all blues.


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## Goose Guy350 (Nov 29, 2004)

is blue coloration dominant in ross's geese too?


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## USAlx50 (Nov 30, 2004)

correct me somebody if i'm wrong but i thought all ross' were white.


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

Goose Guy350 said:


> is blue coloration dominant in ross's geese too?


I'd have to assume no considering the chance at harvesting one is about as rare as shooting a collar or more.


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## Bloodyblinddoors (Oct 25, 2006)

Blue phase ross' are VERY rare. I've never even seen one. I've heard that snow goose females are the ones to choose their mates. A white female will choose a blue or a white mate and a blue female will only choose a blue mate. Thats why the white snow numbers are declining.


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## Goose Guy350 (Nov 29, 2004)

I asked the question because of the two birds ranges, Ross's goose being a Pacific flyway bird expanding its range east rapidly while Blue's are a midwestern bird and with them expanding ranges big time I thought blue phase Ross's geese might become more abundant.


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## Triple B (Mar 9, 2004)

with the ever increasing expansion of the ross' range we see more and will see more hybridization with snow geese. this may get a blue phase of a snow/ross hybrid. blue phase of pure breed ross' are very rare and white makes up the majority of color in theie gene pool.


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## Maverick (Mar 4, 2002)

"JUVY BLUE.....JUVY BLUE....PJ He's yours"

I know PJ is drooling over the juvie blues!!!


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## HonkerExpress (Sep 23, 2005)

Looks like an immature bald eagle to me, way to go man, you really did it this time, lol. Just joking, I agree Juvy Blue, dang sky carp.


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## cranebuster (Nov 2, 2004)

Snow geese (whether blue or white color) pick mates based on their parental color. Traditionally blues and snows had different nesting colonies. When they mix up down south a snow happened to accidentally pick a blue to mate with and took it back to it's own colony, their offspring were indiferent to parental color and it just kept compounding. The blue coloration is dominant and will eventually push out the white phase, the only thing slowing it is that white/white cross offspring will continue to pick white mates as well as blue/blue will pick blue mates. The white bellied blues with varying degrees of white on their bellies are hybrids between snows and blues. A true blue will have a pure blue belly with a white head. A true snow will be pure white with 5 black primaries. Anything in between is hybridized. Google Fred Cook and snow geese and you'll get some pretty neat info on them. Each one is a little different, keeps me chasin' them. A blue Ross is actually a hybrid betweeen a blue and a ross. They are extrememly rare because Ross' usually pick white mates due to their parental color. Most of them are sterile and therefore can't rebreed and pick more blue mates, which will keep the ross population white unlike what happened with the snows. I did a paper on it in college if you were wondering why I know so much!


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## Snow Hunter (Nov 16, 2004)

If you want to know a little more about the genetics of snow geese you can read a term paper I wrote on snow geese a few years ago. It is posted on this website, here is the link...
http://www.nodakoutdoors.com/snow-goose-genetics.php

As far as blue ross most of them are hybrids, however there are blue phase ross geese that occur from a recurring genetic mutaion. So it is possible to see a true blue Ross. Here is a great paper that really goes into detail about blue ross and lesser snows, this may provide more insite for those who are interested.
http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Auk/v096n0 ... -p0550.pdf
I was fortunate enough to get a blue ross this spring, I am having it mounted, I am not entirely sure if it is a true blue ross or one with some lesser snow goose in its geneology. It does have all the characteristics of a Ross but I will let you make your own guess, here is the picture of it.
[siteimg]4042[/siteimg]


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## Zekeland (Oct 6, 2005)

nice trophy!!!


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## brobones (Mar 10, 2004)

That is a goregeous bird when you get your mount back take a picture of that and post it for us..thanks


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## SASKATOONGOOSEHUNTER (Aug 25, 2005)

That's very interesting. I've never seen one like that.


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## Invector (Jan 13, 2006)

WOW a real ross blue...that is great bird and some great luck. Congrats on it. From how I understand it they can come about if the blue goose gene is in there. More off if a ross mates with a blue. I have seen many pics of these little guys but this is the first one I have seen shot. :beer:


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## Snow Hunter (Nov 16, 2004)

I will be sure to share a picture of it when the mount is finished. I did have a very lucky four days this spring. We had four straight days of really good decoying, we ended up with 141 white geese, out of that 1 ross was collared, 1 ross was banded and of course the blue phase ross. We also ended up getting 3 other really nice blues and 1 ross that are going on the wall of some of my hunting buddies homes. I think I almost like hunting spring snows better then fall ducks and geese, maybe. 8)


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## ztrain (Jul 26, 2006)

I hope the blue phase will not take over. I love the glow of the white wings on a clear day.

Hey SNOW HUNTER, the two geese in front are consecutive band numbers that were banded almost three years ago in Qubec and recovered near Aberdeen SD. The guide has never seen bands come from Quebec before and my question, is this common, rare, or never heard of in SD?


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