Comparative foraging behavior of sympatric Snow Geese, Greater White-fronted Geese, and Canada Geese during the non-breeding season

Interspecific comparisons of behavior provide a way to organize information for several species that can lead to hypotheses regarding the functional significance of observed interspecific differences (Clutton-Brock and Harvey 1984). Previous studies of goose time-activity budgets (e.g., Frederick and Klaas 1982, Giroux and Bedard 1990, Black et al. 1991, Ely 1992) have focused on single species and collectively were conducted under widely differing environmental conditions. Certain environmental factors are known to affect goose behavioral patterns and may confound direct interpretation of interspecific comparisons (Table 1). These environmental factors include geographic region, weather, presence of heterospecifics, group size, habitat and vegetation type, year, season, age, social status, and gender. We are aware of no studies that have controlled for environmental variation and examined differences in timebudgets solely as a function of species membership. The objective of this study was to identify interspecies differences (and similarities) in foraging behavior of geese during the non-breeding season, while accounting for sources of environmental variation.