Changes in local distribution and numbers of staging and wintering Bean Geese Anser fabalis in Scania, south Sweden 1977/1978–2016/2017

Leif Nilsson

doi:10.34080/os.v27.19564

Abstract

Scania in southern Sweden is an important staging and wintering province for the Bean Goose Anser fabalis, especially for the Taiga form A. f. fabalis. Based on counts in October, November and January 1977/1978–2016/2017, and observations of neck-banded individuals, the changes in local distribution are described. When the counts started, large numbers were counted already in October, but autumn numbers steadily decreased as the geese stayed further north in Sweden. The January counts on the other hand increased as the geese wintered in Scania in successively larger numbers rather than leaving Sweden. In January 2017, more than 40,000 or two-thirds of the global population of Taiga Bean Goose were counted in Scania. Within the province, more and more geese concentrated to inland areas and instead of using the Öresund coastal region as in earlier years. Birds from different breeding areas, e.g. from Finland and Sweden, used different parts of Scania. In recent years 3000–9000 of Tundra Bean Geese Anser f. rossicus have been wintering in a small area in northeast Scania.

Highlights

Most European Goose populations have shown remarkable increases during recent decades (e.g. Fox et al 2010, Nilsson 2013)
During the first eight years of goose counting, 10 000–25 000 Bean Geese were counted in SW Scania in October (Figure 2)
October numbers in NE Scania were low for the entire period

Summary

Introduction

Most European Goose populations have shown remarkable increases during recent decades (e.g. Fox et al 2010, Nilsson 2013). There was concern about the situation for this subspecies much earlier, and in 1975 the Nordic Collegium for Wildlife Research (NKV) established a Nordic Bean Goose Project (Nilsson & Fog 1984). This lead to the start of large-scale neck-banding programs in the Nordic countries in addition to regular goose counts in Sweden (Nilsson 2013). A large proportion of the entire population of Taiga Bean Geese are found in the province during the winter (Fox et al 2010, Nilsson 2013, Marjankangas et al 2015)

Methods

Results

Conclusion