The migrations of Finnish Bean Geese Anser fabalis in 1978–2011

Leif Nilsson

doi:10.34080/os.v21.22599

Abstract

Bean Geese Anser fabalis have been neck-banded extensively in the breeding areas in northern Finland during two periods: 1978–1994 and 2002–2009. The observations of these geese showed marked differences in timing of migration and location of wintering and staging areas between the two periods. The Bean Geese stayed further to the north in south Sweden during the autumn in the latter period and arrived later to wintering areas in southernmost Sweden. Moreover they did not go to the Netherlands and western Germany during cold winters in the second as they did in the first period. Spring migration started earlier in the second period. Most patterns revealed by the Finnish neck-banded geese were the same as those shown by the Bean Geese in general as observed by the national goose counts in southern Sweden.

Highlights

During the 1970s, there was much concern for the situation of the breeding Bean Goose populations of northernmost Fennoscandia, and the Nordic Collegium for Wildlife Research (NKV) established a special working group in 1975 with the task to run a Nordic Bean Goose Project (Nilsson & Fog 1984)
The studies undertaken within this program included several different aspects of the ecology of Bean Geese such as breeding ecology (Pirkola & Kalinainen 1984), non-breeding ecology and censuses (Nilsson & Persson 1984), and migration studies (Lampio 1984, Nilsson 1984, Tveit 1984)
The studies of Bean Goose migration was based on individual neck-banding of geese in different areas and searches for the marked geese on the staging and wintering areas

Summary

Introduction

During the 1970s, there was much concern for the situation of the breeding Bean Goose populations of northernmost Fennoscandia, and the Nordic Collegium for Wildlife Research (NKV) established a special working group in 1975 with the task to run a Nordic Bean Goose Project (Nilsson & Fog 1984). The studies of Bean Goose migration was based on individual neck-banding of geese in different areas and searches for the marked geese on the staging and wintering areas. In Sweden, discussions concerning Bean Goose management started with the debate related to a major railroad through one of the most important spring staging areas at Umeå in northern Sweden (Botniabanan). A national Bean Goose Project was started in Finland. The studies in both countries included neck-banding programs

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Conclusion