Photo finish: The greater snow goose

Photographer Mike Beedell: “The greater snow goose is a large, hardy migratory bird that travels from the Atlantic Seaboard and Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic islands of Canada and the west coast of Greenland every year. Snow geese raise their young on the tundra vegetation in the high Arctic before migrating back south in the fall. They nest within 820 kilometres of the North Pole and there are more than 800,000 in existence. The biggest colony in the world is on Bylot Island in Canada’s Northwest Passage, where more than 200,000 geese nest annually. These rugged geese lay three to five eggs and, within hours, the goslings leave the nest and forage with parental supervision. One-day-old goslings can walk 30 kilometres in a day. Two of the finest observation sights for the fall migration spectacle are at Cap Tourmente and Baie du Febvre, Que.