adult

adult flying European distribution adults

Identification

It is smaller than the Canada Goose with more silvery grey wings and mantle. It looks as though it has pulled a big black stocking over its head and neck but its white face has poked through the toes.

Habitat

Winters on coastal grassland pastures and marshes. Breeds on islands in the Baltic.

Behaviour

Like many Arctic birds, their nests are vulnerable to Arctic Foxes so they often nest as close as possible to pairs of Gyr Falcons which help to keep the foxes away.

Migration

The Greenland population migrates first to Iceland before continuing to winter on the Hebrides, with smaller numbers in Ireland. The Svalbard birds move firstly to coastal Norway, before crossing the North Sea, to winter on the Solway Firth. The wintering population in Holland breeds in Arctic Russia and the Baltic.

This information is taken from the BirdFile on the appropriate BirdGuides DVD-ROM. As well as video and sounds, our CD- and DVD-ROMs contain additional text on Voice, Sexing, Ageing, Food, Nests and Eggs and more.

For the purposes of our bird news services, Barnacle Goose is classed as Common: common species, including species that are certain or probable escapees from captivity when occurring in the British Isles. (Note that rarity levels are currently applied nationally and may not reflect local variations in abundance.)

Tittesworth Resr, Staffs 01/08/2010	Tittesworth Resr, Staffs 01/08/2010	Minsmere RSPB, Suffolk 04/06/2010	Minsmere RSPB, Suffolk 04/05/2010	Llandrindod Wells, Powys 16/05/2010
Minsmere RSPB, Suffolk 03/05/2010	private site, E Yorks 01/05/2010	Minsmere RSPB, Suffolk 17/04/2010	Nunnery Lakes Res, Norfolk 09/04/2010	Minsmere RSPB, Suffolk 28/03/2010

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Barnacle Goose breeds in the following countries (Bird News Extra subscribers will see population statistics and information on trends for each country):

Belgium
Denmark
Estonia
Estonia
Faroe Islands
Finland
Germany
Greenland
Iceland
Netherlands
Norway
Russia
Svalbard
Sweden

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	WWT: Svalbard Polar Bears threaten a conservation success story	Tuesday 17th August 2010
	A recent expedition has confirmed the devastating impact that hungry Polar Bears have on breeding Barnacle Geese.   read on
	New Speed Record Set	Friday 25th May 2007
	Yet another speed record has been set after fitting Arctic-bound wild geese with satellite transmitters to track their spring migration.   read on
	Secrets of Migration Revealed in a First for British Science	Thursday 12th October 2006
	The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust have successfully used satellite tracking to follow the migration of wild geese as they migrate from Britain to the High Arctic and back again.   read on
	Winter Geese: Part 2 – The 'Branta' geese (Full Text)	Tuesday 10th February 2004
	The 'Branta' geese form an extremely attractive group of birds, with most interest in recent years focussed on 'brent geese' and 'canada geese': the former for potential species 'splits' and the latter for the identification of vagrants amongst wild geese flocks in northwest Scotland and Ireland.

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