White-fronted goose
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White-fronted goose ( Anser albifrons ) |
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| Anser albifrons | ||||||||||||
| ( Scopoli , 1769) |
The white-fronted goose , also fronted goose ( Anser albifrons ) is a goose from the kind of field geese that breed in the Arctic regions of the north of European Russia to Siberia, the Arctic North America and Greenland. It is slightly smaller than the gray goose and can be easily recognized by its white forehead blaze and the black spots on its underside. The species is divided into five subspecies, two of which breed in Eurasia.
In Central Europe, the white-fronted goose is a regular winter visitor and migrant in the lowlands. A breeding bird population has existed in the Netherlands since 1977, presumably originally from captive refugees.
features
Adult bird appearance
The white-fronted goose is dark gray-brown in color with a mostly light underside and irregular black transverse spots on the belly. Adult birds have a white pallor that extends from the base of the beak to the forehead. However, the pallor is not as great as in the dwarf goose , where it reaches over the eyes. The white-fronted goose's beak is pink and its feet are orange. Young birds do not yet have the characteristic forehead markings ("paleness") in autumn, and the belly stripes are also missing. These characteristics develop with the small plumage moult in the course of the first winter. Young birds have a black beak tip (" nail ").
The beak is pale reddish to pale pink (subspecies European White-fronted Goose A. alb. Albifrons ) or yellow- orange (subspecies Greenland White-fronted Goose A. alb. Flavirostris ), the legs are orange. It is about 65–76 cm tall, the weight is 1900–2400 g (goose) and 1600–2100 g (goose), the Greenland white-fronted goose is somewhat heavier. The wingspan is between 130 and 165 centimeters.
Subspecies
There are five subspecies:
- European white-fronted goose ( A. alb. Albifrons ),
- Greenland white-fronted goose ( A. alb.flavirostris ),
- the Pacific white-fronted goose ( A. alb. frontalis ), native to Alaska and eastern Siberia.
- A. alb. gambelli (Mackenziebucht, Canada) and
- the tule white-fronted goose ( A. alb. elgasi ), which occurs in Alaska. For them it is occasionally discussed whether they deserve their own species status. It is dark brown, long-beaked. Individual individuals have yellow circles under the eyes. The white forehead, which is characteristic of white-fronted geese, sometimes extends above eye level. With around 5,000 individuals, it is the least numerous subspecies of the white-fronted goose. The IUCN classifies this subspecies as endangered.
Appearance of the downy chicks and fledglings
Downy chicks have a brown upper body. On the underside of the body, they are gray-white to yellowish. The forehead, face, throat and front neck are yellowish white. A dark rein runs from the beak to the eye. At the time of hatching, the beak is dark gray with a pink to cream colored nail. The legs and feet are dark gray. Before the young birds fledge, the beak color changes to a light pink, with the tip of the beak turning black. Feet, legs, and webbed feet will turn pinkish yellow at this point. The iris of the young birds is brown.
Calls
White-fronted geese are very call-happy geese. Their distance call is higher and faster than that of the greylag goose. Some of them are noticeably bright and predominantly two-syllable calls ("Kli-lick, kil-lick"). Three-syllable calls are heard less often. Grazing white- fronted geese give off a gray goose- like gragagaga .
distribution
The white-fronted goose is a bird with a total of five subspecies in the far north of Asia and America as well as in south-west Greenland .
The Greenland White-fronted Goose ( Anser alb. Flavirostris ) breeds in West Greenland and migrates via Iceland to the winter areas of Scotland and Ireland. As a rare wanderer , it is occasionally observed in Central Europe during the winter months. The Greenland White-fronted Goose population is low overall. Due to the current decline in the population, the hunt for this subspecies was stopped on the entire migration route in 2006.
The European white-fronted goose ( Anser alb. Albifrons ) breeds in the tundras between the Kanin Peninsula in northern Russia and the Chatanga on the Taimyr Peninsula . It winters spread over several migration routes between Kazakhstan and England. Current results of satellite telemetry point to a complex system of migration routes between the breeding and winter areas. Most of them are currently moving to Western Europe, where the winter rest activities are concentrated in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Brandenburg, Lower Saxony, the Netherlands and Belgium. The white-fronted geese wintering in Central Europe have their breeding area primarily in the European part of the Arctic up to the Kanin Peninsula. Ring finds have also shown that there are occasional white-fronted geese in Central Europe that molt on the Taimyr Peninsula.
White-fronted geese are only winter guests in Central Europe . The entry begins at the end of September. The withdrawal takes place from February to March. The population has recovered significantly since a historic low after the Second World War and is now estimated at around 1–1.2 million individuals. The portfolio growth is currently complete.
nutrition
In their breeding areas, white-fronted geese feed mainly on the vegetative parts of sedges and grasses. The main food plant is in large parts the narrow-leaved cottongrass . During the moulting season they also like to eat horsetail as well as Arctofila fulva , Atropis angustata , Pleuropogon sabinii and Carex stans . In addition, a number of sweet grasses play a role. In the arctic tundras, berries such as crowberry and cloudberry are also eaten in late summer .
In addition to the sweet grasses, the green shoots of the sea balance also play a role in winter quarters . They also eat the seeds of many plants and also graze on winter crops.
Reproduction
The breeding areas of the white-fronted goose lie in the almost vegetation-free arctic tundra up to the strauchtundra. White-fronted geese return to their breeding grounds from mid-May. In the extreme north of the distribution area and in the mountains they do not appear in the breeding area until the first half of June. After returning, the white-fronted geese stay in pairs or in small groups in the closer breeding area and move around without immediately occupying a specific territory. The construction of the nests does not begin until the beginning of June, when the intense snowmelt has started.
The nest is loosely built and consists of grasses and stems. Before the start of brood, it is very abundantly lined with downs. During the moulting season, when the adult birds are unable to fly and the young birds have not yet achieved their ability to fly, the geese form large flocks which, if there is danger, move to open water. The adult birds regain their ability to fly around mid-August. At this point the young birds are also able to fly. A short time later, the withdrawal to the winter areas begins. White-fronted geese usually leave their breeding area completely by the end of September.
The oldest ringed wild bird was 25 years old.
literature
- Jonathan Alderfer (Ed.): Complete Birds of North America. National Geographic, Washington DC 2006, ISBN 0-7922-4175-4 .
- Hans-Günther Bauer, Einhard Bezzel , Wolfgang Fiedler (eds.): The compendium of birds in Central Europe: Everything about biology, endangerment and protection. Volume 1: Nonpasseriformes - non-sparrow birds. Aula-Verlag Wiebelsheim, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-89104-647-2 .
- Hans-Heiner Bergmann , Helmut Kruckenberg, Volkhard Wille: Wild geese - travelers between wilderness and pastureland. G. Braun Verlag, Karlsruhe 2006.
- Hartmut Kolbe: The world's ducks. Ulmer Verlag, 1999, ISBN 3-8001-7442-1 .
- J. Madsen, G. Cracknell, Tony Fox: Goose Populations of the Western Palearchtic. Wetlands International, Wageningen 1999.
- E. Rutschke: Wild geese way of life - protection - use. Parey, Berlin 1997.
- SM Uspenski: The wild geese of Northern Europe. Reprint of the 1st edition. Westarp Wissenschaften-Verlagsgesellschaft, Hohenwarsleben 2003, ISBN 3-89432-756-1 .
Web links
- Anser albifrons in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed on December 18 of 2008.
- Current scientific results are offered by the European white-tailed goose research program ( migration routes , marking, satellite telemetry)
- Videos, photos and sound recordings for Anser albifrons in the Internet Bird Collection
- White-fronted goose feathers
Individual evidence
- ↑ H.-G. Bauer, E. Bezzel, W. Fiedler (Hrsg.): The compendium of the birds of Central Europe: Everything about biology, endangerment and protection. Volume 1: Nonpasseriformes - non-sparrow birds. Aula-Verlag Wiebelsheim, Wiesbaden 2005, p. 67.
- ^ J. Alderfer (Ed.): Complete Birds of North America. National Geographic, Washington DC 2006, p. 5.
- ↑ H. Kolbe: The duck birds of the world. Ulmer Verlag, 1999, p. 107.
- ↑ H. Kolbe: The duck birds of the world. Ulmer Verlag, 1999, p. 108.
- ^ Hans-Heiner Bergmann, Hans-Wolfgang Helb, Sabine Baumann: The voices of the birds of Europe - 474 bird portraits with 914 calls and chants on 2,200 sonograms. Aula-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2008, ISBN 978-3-89104-710-1 , p. 46.
- ^ Sächsisches Landesamt für Umwelt und Geologie (Ed.): Wild geese and swans in Saxony - occurrence, behavior and management. Dresden 2006, publication as part of the public relations work of the Saxon State Office for Environment, Geology, p. 6.
- ↑ a b Saxon State Office for Environment and Geology (ed.): Wild geese and swans in Saxony - occurrence, behavior and management. Dresden 2006, publication as part of the public relations work of the Saxon State Office for Environment, Geology, p. 14.
- ↑ a b S. M. Uspenski: The wild geese of Northern Europe. Westarp Wissenschaften-Verlagsgesellschaft, Hohenwarsleben 2003, p. 38.
- ↑ SM Uspenski: The wild geese of Northern Europe. Westarp Wissenschaften-Verlagsgesellschaft, Hohenwarsleben 2003, p. 37.