Barnacle Goose

Voice

A high, short yapping kyak or kwaf; in big flocks these merge into a continuous yelping babble like a distant pack of small dogs. Heard above all as flocks drop in or lift off the saltmarsh, October to April, and often at night over roosts.

Identification

Small, compact black goose with a creamy white face, black crown, neck and breast, and a short black bill. The upperparts are silver-grey with crisp black and white bars, giving a barred, blocky look. In flight: short neck, fast beats and a very white rear with a narrow black tail band.

Confusion species

Brent Goose is darker, lacks the white face and shows only a small white neck patch above a uniform dark belly. Canada Goose is far bigger and brown, with a white chinstrap rather than a whole white face. At distance judge tone: Barnacle reads black-and-white, Brent black-and-brown.

Habitat

In winter saltmarsh, salty grassland, inland polders and sea dykes, roosting on tidal flats and shallow water. Traditionally breeds on Arctic cliff ledges; in the Netherlands on marsh islets, sandbanks and grazed waterside land, where a moat of water replaces the cliff.

Range and movements

Breeds in Greenland, Svalbard and Novaya Zemlya, with fast-growing populations around the Baltic and in the Dutch Delta and Wadden area. The Netherlands is the most important wintering area in Europe. In Spain it is a genuine rarity, and every claim needs escaped birds ruled out first.

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

Where and when to look

November to March in Friesland, the Lauwersmeer, the Dollard and Zeeland: drive the sea dyke, stop at the first yapping flock and scan its edges for oddities. Incoming birds form loose wavering lines rather than tidy V-formations, which is often the first clue overhead.

Conservation status

Strongly increased through protection, warming of the breeding grounds and nutrient-rich grassland, with new colonies far outside the Arctic range. As a result, grassland damage and the goose-management debate now dominate discussion, where once the concern was protecting a vulnerable species.