Little goose

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Little goose
Little goose

Little goose

Systematics
Order : Goose birds (Anseriformes)
Family : Duck birds (Anatidae)
Subfamily : Geese (anserinae)
Tribe : Real geese (Anserini)
Genre : Field geese ( anser )
Type : Little goose
Scientific name
Anser erythropus
( Linnaeus , 1758)
A resting dwarf goose in the Walsrode World Bird Park

The pygmy goose ( Anser erythropus ), also called pygmy goose , is a species of the field geese ( Anser ) of the duck bird family (Anatidae). It is the rarest species of geese in Europe . The species was first described in 1758 by Carl von Linné in his work Systema Naturae . Their breeding area includes the Eurasian forest tundra, partly also the northern forest zone and the south of the Strauchtundra. It can also be observed in Western Europe during the winter months. Wintering places can also be found in the Middle East and Asia Minor, in the south of the Caspian Sea, in the Nile plain, in South Japan, Korea and Southeast China.

features

The dwarf goose reaches a body length of 53 to 66 centimeters. It has a wingspan of 120 to 135 cm and weighs 1.4 to 2.2 kg.

The dwarf goose is similar in habit and color to the European subspecies of the white-fronted goose , but is smaller and darker. The paleness of the forehead extends higher than that of the white-fronted goose and ends between the eyes. It also differs from the white-fronted goose in the bright yellow eye ring that young birds develop. In young birds it occurs for the first time after the juvenile moult in November of the first year of life. In the youth dress this is still colored yellow-green. The pygmy goose is also less striated on the belly than the European white-fronted goose and has longer wing tips that protrude slightly beyond the tail of the standing goose. The head looks more rounded than that of the gray goose and the beak more delicate. In flight, it is easy to confuse it with the much more common and less protected European white-fronted goose, which has probably led to its extreme endangerment.

The downy chicks are very similar to those of the white-fronted goose. However, they are a little darker on the body surface. As with the white-fronted goose chicks, the little goose chicks are brown on the upper side and whitish on the underside. The face and neck are cream in color. A dark rein runs from the beak to the eye. The forehead is reddish brown. At the time of hatching, the beak is dark olive-gray with a pink to cream-colored nail. Legs and feet are olive gray; the webbed feet are a little darker compared to this. The beak turns pink with increasing age. Legs, feet and webbed feet then turn yellowish orange. The iris is dark brown. The eye ring, which is light gray in downy chicks and later turns yellowish, is striking.

The pygmy goose has more than a dozen different vocalizations. The voice is significantly higher than that of the white-fronted goose. The calls are often shrill and barking than those of this goose species.

distribution

Distribution areas of the Little Goose:
  • Breeding areas
  • migration
  • Wintering areas
  • Forays (uncertain seasonality)
  • Likely migration

    • The distribution area once reached from the northern areas of Scandinavia over the Urals to far into Siberia . It has disappeared from large parts of its breeding area since the late 1970s. There are only a few dozen breeding pairs left in Scandinavia today. The release of captive dwarf geese into the wild could not stop the downward trend. Since in the meantime illegal or falsified hunting in the traditional wintering areas in the Balkans has been identified as one of the most important causes of the population collapse, there is now a project to use microlight aircraft to create new migration routes for young pygmy geese released into the wild, into safe wintering areas on the Lower Rhine, for example to the Bislicher Insel nature reserve to teach.

    Way of life

    The Little Goose is a migratory bird that usually migrates south in winter. When they are on their move, they form the characteristic V-formation , often with other geese species, which can lead to accidental killings. The migratory routes of the dwarf goose are not genetically fixed, but are handed down. In addition to the train to the wintering quarters, there is a so-called moulting procession of non-breeding animals to certain moulting sites. The migration from the breeding and moulting areas takes place in the second half of August and the beginning of September.

    Little geese seek their food exclusively in the country. Little geese live mainly on short grasses and herbs. In terms of nutrition, it is important that the areas where little geese look for food have low vegetation in order to meet their need for security, but also because they can only feed on short grass and herbs. Natural pasture systems with large grazers ( megaherbivores ) are ideal for this.

    Reproduction

    Eggs of the dwarf goose,     Museum Wiesbaden collection

    The little goose is a breeding bird at higher elevations. It prefers to breed in swamp and marshland. Their nest is found in thickets or hills that are free from snow. In years when the snow melts very late, it occasionally breeds at lower altitudes. Little geese usually show great loyalty to the partner, but they mate again when the partner is lost.

    The breeding season begins in late May to early June. It is only incubated once a year. The nest is a shallow hollow that is lined with plants, moss, down and feathers. The down used is brown-gray with a lighter center. The nest usually has five to seven eggs. They are elongated-elliptical to oval and cream-white in color. Only the female parent bird breeds. Breeding begins after the last egg has been deposited. The incubation period is between 25 and 28 days. The downy chicks flee the nest. They are looked after by both parent birds and stay with them during the first winter. After the chicks hatch, the dwarf geese flock to larger flocks in which they also moult. In the event of danger, they often run away without being blown up. They reach an unusually high speed for geese on the ground. The wing moult of the parent animals is so that they are able to fly again a little later than the young animals, which makes it easier for the young animals to slowly learn difficult flight maneuvers as they follow their parents. Most of the time the young stay with the parent animals until the next brood and can often be found with them later. Little geese can mainly recognize each other individually by their call.

    Inventory development

    Swimming little goose

    Up until the beginning of the 1950s, the total population comprised tens of thousands of animals. After that, there was a dramatic decline in populations in all areas, so that the blue-skinned goose must be viewed as extremely endangered today. The population in Lapland is only 60 to 90 pairs; in Hungary more than 100,000 breeding pairs wintered before 1950, after 1980 there were only 3,600. As in the case of the red-necked goose, the reasons for the decline in the population are excessive hunting in Russia, Kazakhstan and various countries in Eastern and Southeastern Europe. The problem is their great similarity to the much more numerous and intensely hunted white- fronted goose .

    As a globally endangered species, the dwarf goose is subject to the German Federal Species Protection Ordinance; An exemption from the marketing ban is required for animals raised in captivity .

    Others

    The French animal rights activist Christian Moullec can be seen at flight shows with embossed pygmy geese.

    supporting documents

    Individual evidence

    1. ^ 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. 45.
    2. ↑ S. Lengyel, J. Tar, L. Rózsa: Flock size measures of migrating Lesser White-fronted Geese Anser erythropus . In: Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae . tape 58 , 2012, p. 297-303 ( zoologia.hu [PDF]).
    3. ↑ Collin Harrison, Peter Castell: Field Guide Bird Nests, Eggs and Nestlings. revised Edition. HarperCollins Publisher, 2002, ISBN 0-00-713039-2 , pp. 66 and 67.
    4. ↑ SM Uspenski: The wild geese of Northern Europe. 2003, p. 35.
    5. ↑ Thomas Heinicke (edit.): Wild geese and swans in Saxony - occurrence, behavior and management. State Office for Environment and Geology Saxony, Dresden 2006, p. 19.

    literature

    • Hans-Heiner Bergmann , Helmut Kruckenberg, Volkhard Wille: Wild geese - travelers between wilderness and pastureland. G. Braun Verlag, Karlsruhe 2006, ISBN 3-7650-8321-6 .
    • J. Madsen, G. Cracknell, Tony Fox: Goose Populations of the Western Palearctic. Wetlands International, Wageningen 1999, ISBN 87-7772-437-2 .
    • Erich Rutschke: Wild geese, way of life - protection - use. Parey, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-8263-8478-4 .
    • H. Kolbe: The duck birds of the world. 5th edition. Ulmer Eugen Verlag, 1999, ISBN 3-8001-7442-1 .
    • SM Uspenski: The wild geese of Northern Europe. Westarp Wissenschaften-Verlagsgesellschaft, Hohenwarsleben 2003, ISBN 3-89432-756-1 . (Reprint of the 1st edition from 1965)

    Web links

    Commons : Little Goose  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files