page_title: Emperor goose
section_title: Habitat and distribution
hierarchical_section_title: Emperor goose / Habitat and distribution
caption_attribution_description: A group of Emperor Geese rest on the peaks of Chiniak Bay rocks in the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge located in Alaska
context_page_description: The emperor goose, also known as the beach goose or the painted goose, is a waterfowl species in the family Anatidae, which contains the ducks, geese, and swans. It is blue-gray in color as an adult and grows to 66–71 centimetres in length. Adults have a black chin and throat, a pink bill, yellow-orange legs, and a white head, which often turns reddish-brown in summer. In the winter, the emperor goose lives in mudflats and coasts in Alaska and occasionally Canada and the contiguous United States. In the summer, it migrates northerly several hundred miles to arctic and sub-arctic climates, where older individuals breed monogamously. Nests are constructed in holes and built up with vegetation and feathers. Eggs hatch in late June and early July, and goslings leave the nest the day they hatch. The species is an omnivore, and makes vocalizations that are more nasal than those of other geese. Listed as near threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the species' population is declining due to threats such as pollution, hunting, and climate change.
context_section_description: During the summer, the emperor goose lives in arctic and subarctic climates in the Bering Sea, around Alaska and a small part of north-east Russia. Its habitats in this season include freshwater pools, inland lakes, and coastal lagoons. 90% of specimens nest on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. In the winter, after its southerly migration, it lives primarily among the Aleutian Islands, as well as on the Alaska Peninsula and the Kodiak Island. It sometimes spends winters in Canada and rarely as far south as northwestern California. Areas in California the species has been found living in, as of 1918, include Humboldt Bay, Gridley, Davis, Rio Vista, Colusa County, Ingomar, Modesto, and Dixon. Its habitats are mudflats and rocky shores in the winter, in areas free of ice, and tundra wetlands in the summer. Its extent of occurrence is estimated to be 775,000 square kilometres (299,000 sq mi).
  As of August 2017, the emperor goose's population is increasing slowly. In 1879, the emperor goose was found by Edward William Nelson to be abundant along the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. In 1923, however, Arthur Cleveland Bent observed much fewer specimens, and reported that the population had decreased over the past 30 years prior to that. Bent said that "large numbers are killed each year and their eggs taken by the natives, even within the limits of what is supposed to be a reservation", which was a major reason for the goose's decrease in population. In 1964, the goose's population was 139,000, which decreased to 42,000 in 1986. The population subsequently increased, with its population having been 85,000 in 2002 and over 98,000 in 2015; According to the emperor goose's entry on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which was entered on 1 October 2016, the total population of the emperor goose is decreasing. However, it also said that the trend is not clear and it is increasing in parts of North America. Julian Fischer, a wildlife biologist, said in a news article published in August 2017, that the population has been experiencing a slow, steady increase. He stated that the population had over doubled in size from the early 1980s, and that it may be as large as 170,000.
  Although the reasons for the emperor goose's population decline are not well known, it is believed to be threatened by oil pollution, hunting, and climate change. Other factors contributing to the species' population decline include competing with the cackling goose for food and the preying of goslings. The emperor goose is listed as near threatened on the IUCN Red List and rated 14 out of 20 on the Continental Concern Score. The 2016 State of North America's Birds' Watch List, a list of threatened birds that have no major conservation actions taking place for them, includes the emperor goose. Due to its low population in the 1980s, recreational and subsistence hunts closed for the goose in 1986 and 1987, respectively. However, 30 years later, hunts became legal again after the population grew significantly. In 2015, the Alaska Migratory Bird Co-Management Council suggested for hunting of the bird to be allowed if the population were to grow to a certain number. On 2 April 2017, subsistence hunting was allowed for the emperor goose, with hunters able to kill an unlimited number of geese. In fall 2017, emperor geese were allowed to be hunted for recreational purposes by locals of Alaska with a permit, with a limit of one bird per person. In 2018, hunters who were not residing in Alaska were permitted to hunt the geese with a permit. However, the species cannot be hunted anywhere in the contiguous United States.
caption: A flock in the Chiniak Bay, located in the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge
exif: {}