Wintering site interchange amongst Greenland White-fronted GeeseAnser albifrons flavirostriscaptured at Wexford Slobs, Ireland

Abstract

The maximum count of Greenland White-fronted Geese wintering at Wexford, south-east Ireland (where over a third of the population winters) increased from 7910 in 1984/85 to 9530 in 1989/90. Although the population tends to be highly site-loyal on the wintering grounds, 14% of 700 marked geese seen in two consecutive winters changed site. Counts elsewhere in the wintering range and the recorded movements of marked birds indicate that a large influx of geese from Scotland to Wexford occurred in 1988/89. In the previous and subsequent winters large numbers of geese from Wexford remained in Scotland. No sex-related difference in birds changing site could be detected, but 68% of known-age birds which moved did so in their second and third winters when pairing is most frequent. Only 39 marked geese were recorded moving within winters (an average of 2.8% of the population each year), virtually all of these involved geese staging on route to or from wintering sites within Britain and Ireland. The maximum numbers are reached at Wexford in January/February when marked birds arrive from more northerly staging areas within Britain and Ireland.