Pink-footed goose

Voice

Higher and more musical than the other bean geese, with squeaky notes running through the flock: wink-wink and a shriller ang-ang-ang. A passing skein sounds like a tinny, fast-chattering chorus. Heard above all as birds lift off the roost at first light, from October to March.

Identification

A compact, short-necked goose with a short, deep bill, black with a narrow pink band before the nail. The legs are bright pink, never orange. Head and neck are dark chocolate brown and contrast clearly with the pale, cold grey-brown body. In flight the forewing is strikingly pale grey, almost as pale as on Greylag.

Confusion species

Tundra Bean Goose is the real pitfall: it has orange legs and an orange bill band, warmer browner tones and no grey forewing. Greylag is much bigger, pale-headed and shows an entirely pink or orange bill. The combination of pink legs, grey forewing and dark head settles Pink-footed every time.

Habitat

Winters on damp grassland, winter wheat, cereal stubble and leftover sugar beet. Roosts on shallow lakes, meres and saltmarsh, often mixed in with White-fronted Geese. On the breeding grounds it uses arctic tundra and steep crags and river gorges in Iceland and East Greenland.

Range and movements

Breeds on Svalbard, in Iceland and in East Greenland. The Svalbard population winters in a narrow belt from Denmark through northern Germany to Friesland and the Noordoostpolder, where numbers concentrate; Icelandic birds go to Scotland and England instead. In Spain the species is an exceptional vagrant.

• Resident
• Breeding (summer)
• Winter
• Passage
• Migration direction
• dark = core range, pale = thinly spread

Where and when to look

November to February, and search deliberately: south-west Friesland, the Noordoostpolder and the country around the Oostvaardersplassen. Walk the grassland fields in the morning and scan flock by flock for legs and bill base. The dark head jumps out among White-fronts, but always confirm the pink legs before claiming it.

Conservation status

The Svalbard population has grown strongly since protection in the 1980s, so strongly that grazing pressure on the tundra and crop damage in the wintering range now raise management questions. The Icelandic population has also increased. Climate change on the breeding grounds and shifting migration routes are the main long-term uncertainties.