This goose, which gets is name from the white feathering around the base of the bill, has at least three visually distinct forms that occur in North America. On adults, the upperparts vary from dark earth-brown to gray-brown with variable pale margins on the mantle, scapulars, and coverts creating a slightly frosted look. Foreneck and upper breast is paler buffy brown become darker on the lower breast and belly, which shows highly variable amounts of black speckling, hence most hunters refer to them as "speckle bellies."

Extensive black speckling on the lower breast and belly does not appear until a bird is at least two years old (after the first prebasic molt). Second-year birds normally show only modest speckling below. The face darkens to black towards the bill, framing the white feathering around the base of the bill. The tail is blackish with a white terminal band. When sitting, they show a distinctive horizontal white line along flanks and white on the undertail and vent. Adults have a mostly pink bill and the legs and feet are orange.

Hatch-year and first-winter birds are highly variable due to a protracted Nov-Feb preformative molt that takes place on the wintering grounds. Late summer/early fall juveniles are paler and slightly buffier than adults and showing no black speckling below. In late summer and early fall they have no white, just dark brown around the base of the bill and they have a very scaly appearance–juvenile body, mantle and covert feathers are smaller and more rounded than those of adults. Their bills are mostly orange to yellow-orange with minimal if any pink and their legs tend to be washed out and not as bright orange as an adults. The bill nail starts out dark and fades to pale whitish by late winter. Mid-to-late winter birds tend to look a bit disheveled and patchy as larger, broad, square-tipped formative body feathers grow in and replace the small rounded juvenile feathers. During the preformative molt white facial feathering and varying amounts of dark-brown to blackish feathers (frames white) appear around the base of the bill. By late winter/early spring the face pattern will look like that of an adult. The amount of black on the belly of second-year birds varies from some to none at all. Many Greater White-fronted Geese do not show any black speckling on their belly until they go through their first prebasic molt (not counting preformative molt as a prebasic molt).

The rare "Tule" Greater White-fronted Goose (subspecies "elgasi") breeds in Alaska and winters along the Pacific Flyway, where it can be identified by its larger size, longer neck, and darker brown head and neck. Along the Atlantic Coast, the Greenland subspecies ("flavirostris") is a rare winter visitor. In all plumages, it is darker and has a colder sooty-gray appearance compared to the other North American forms. The Greenland population is comparatively short-legged and even adults have an orangish bill.

Length: 65 (cm) Wingspan: 130 (cm)

Voice:

The loud call is a high-pitched yelping consisting of two or three syllables. The sound of flocks passing overhead has a laughing quality. When a singleton White-fronted gets mixed in with Canada or Cackling Geese, its much louder call can typically be heard over the din of other geese.

Habitat:

Tundra, freshwater marshes, agricultural fields.

Behavior:

High-flying migrant flocks form broad flat arcs that overlap rather than classic V-shaped flocks seen in migrant Canada and Cackling Geese. Stray or injured singletons often join ranks with flocks of exotic "park geese."

Feeding:

Forages for plants and grains in marshes and fields.