Wintering of Finnish Taiga Geese Anser f. fabalis in Skåne, South Sweden: time-budget differences among age groups

Abstract

European Taiga Geese Anser fabalis fabalis, wintering in Skåne, South Sweden, were studied while grazing winter wheat seedlings. The activities of individually marked birds were continuously observed from the time they left their night roost in the morning until they returned in the evening. Each time the bird changed from one activity to another, the change was noted on a continuously running cassette tape recorder. In autumn and early spring, adults allocated an average of 40% of their time to grazing, 27% to staying alert, and 25% to resting/sleeping. In winter, adults increased the proportion of the day devoted to grazing to 52%, whereas the time spent staying alert decreased correspondingly. Adults, subadults, and juveniles devoted similar proportions of the average day to grazing in winter, whereas juveniles spent less time staying alert and more time to resting/sleeping compared with adults. In autumn and winter, the geese grazed 4.0–4.1 hours/day.