Taiga bean-goose

Voice

Deep and nasal, in two or three syllables: ung-unk or kayak-kayak, lower and slower than White-fronted Goose and with a hoarse undertone. A flock lifting off sounds heavy and growling. Heard above all as birds leave the roost at first light, from November to February.

Identification

A large, long-bodied goose with a long neck and a long wedge-shaped bill on which the orange band often covers more than half the bill length. Head and neck are dark brown, the body warm brown with narrow pale feather fringes. Legs orange. The forewing is dark, without the grey of Greylag or Pink-footed Goose.

Confusion species

Tundra Bean Goose is the only real competitor: smaller and shorter-necked, with a short, deep, blunt bill often carrying only a narrow orange band behind the nail. Taiga Bean has a flatter forehead and a bill that looks long and straight in profile. Pink-footed Goose has pink legs and a pink bill band.

Habitat

In winter on damp, extensively managed grassland, peat meadows and harvest stubble, roosting on bog pools, marshes and shallow lakes. Faithful to a handful of traditional sites. Breeds in the taiga zone beside raised bogs, streams and small lakes in open conifer forest, far south of Tundra Bean Goose.

Range and movements

Breeds from central Scandinavia through northern Russia to central Siberia. West European birds winter in southern Sweden, Denmark, northern Germany and the Netherlands, where south-west Friesland and the Peel are the classic areas. Numbers were once considerably higher. In Spain bean geese are vagrants, with mostly historical records in the north.

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

Where and when to look

December and January, early in the morning at the roost. South-west Friesland around the Frisian lakes and the Groote Peel offer the best chances. Scan a bean goose flock in strict profile for the longest, flattest bill with plenty of orange, and always compare several birds, since individuals overlap.

Conservation status

The west European population has declined sharply and is closely monitored; in the Netherlands the species has gone from numerous to scarce. Hunting along parts of the flyway, land-use change and drainage of boreal mires all play a part, while milder winters keep birds further north. An international management plan is now in force.