Habitat Suitability Index Models: Lesser snow goose (wintering)

The lesser snow goose may have the largest population of any goose in the world (Cooch 1958; Kerbes 1975; Ogilvie 1978). Its arctic breeding range has greatly expanded since the mid-1950's (Bellrose 1976). In the United States, it normally ranks behind only the Canada goose (Branta canadensis) in population size (Bellrose 1976; Owen 1980) and in harvest (Carney et al. 1981, 1982). Because up to 70% of the geese harvested annually by hunters in Texas and Louisiana are lesser snow geese (Carney et al , 1981), its importance as a waterfowl species of the Gulf of Mexico coast cannot be overemphasized. Surveys taken in the Central and Mississippi Flyways from 1955 to 1975 have shown an upward trend in the number of wintering snow geese (Bellrose 1976). On the wintering grounds snow geese tend to remain in large, very conspicuous flocks that please both hunters and non-consumptive viewers of wildlife.