Pink-footed goose

The pink-footed goose (Anser brachyrhynchus) is a goose that lives in cold areas and travels far each year. These geese breed in eastern Greenland, Iceland, Svalbard, and recently Novaya Zemlya. After breeding, they fly to warmer places for the winter, mainly in northwest Europe. You can often find them in Ireland, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and western Denmark.

Their name, "pink-footed goose," comes from the pink color of their legs and feet. Sometimes people shorten the name to "pinkfoot" or "pinkfeet." The word Anser in their scientific name means "goose" in Latin. The second part, brachyrhynchus, comes from ancient Greek words meaning "short bill," describing the shape of their beaks. These geese are interesting because of their long journeys and special features.

Description

The pink-footed goose is a medium-sized bird. It measures between 60 and 75 cm (24 to 30 inches) long with a wingspan of 135 to 170 cm (53 to 67 inches). It weighs between 1.8 and 3.4 kg (4.0 to 7.5 lb). This goose has a short bill that is bright pink in the middle, with a black base and tip. Its feet are also pink. Its body is a mid-grey-brown color, and its head and neck are darker brown. The rump and vent are white, and the tail is grey with a broad white tip. The upper wing feathers are a pale bluish-grey, similar to the tundra bean goose, but the flight feathers are blackish-grey, like the greylag goose.

Taxonomy

The pink-footed goose is closely related to the taiga bean goose. It is bigger than another type of goose but not related to a similar-sized subspecies of the tundra bean goose. These geese make high-pitched honking sounds, especially when flying in groups. When many fly together, the noise can be very loud.

Population

There are two main groups of pink-footed geese. One group lives in Greenland and Iceland and spends the winter in Great Britain. The other group lives in Svalbard and Novaya Zemlya and winters in the Netherlands and Denmark, with some also in Norway, northern Germany, and Belgium.

The number of pink-footed geese has grown a lot over the past 50 years because they are now protected from hunting during winter. In Ireland and Great Britain, the number of geese has gone up. In Denmark and the Netherlands, numbers have also increased. The biggest breeding area is in Iceland. In Great Britain, important areas for wintering geese are in Norfolk, Lancashire, and Aberdeenshire. In Ireland, they mainly winter in County Louth. Big groups of geese can be seen on farmland.

Recently, a new group of pink-footed geese has started breeding on the Novaya Zemlya islands in Russia. This group formed within 10 years from geese that came from Svalbard. This change is thought to be because of climate change. As of 2023, this new group had about 3,000 to 4,000 birds.

Ecology

Pink-footed geese often build their nests on cliffs near glaciers. This helps protect them from animals like the Arctic fox. They lay three to six eggs between early May and late May. After the eggs hatch, the baby geese, called goslings, follow their parents to the nearest lake. It takes about 56 days for the goslings to grow their feathers and fly.

These geese mostly eat plants. In the summer, they eat plants that grow on tundra, both on land and in water. During winter, they eat crops like oilseed rape, sugar beet, potato, and grasses. While they sometimes damage crops, they can also help farmers by eating leaves and roots left after harvesting. This can help prevent diseases in the next year’s crops.

Vagrancy

Many pink-footed geese spend their winters in Great Britain. Only a few are seen in Ireland and France. This goose is a rare visitor to other parts of Europe, as far south as Morocco and the Canary Islands. It has also been spotted in eastern Canada and the United States, from Newfoundland to Pennsylvania. In 2022, a pink-footed goose was seen in Kentucky for the first time.

The pink-footed goose is protected by the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA).