Tundra bean-goose

Voice

Deep, nasal and disyllabic, kayak or ung-ank, slightly higher and faster than Taiga Bean Goose but barely separable in the field. Large flocks produce a low, continuous growling. Heard mostly as birds lift off in the half-light, from October to March.

Identification

A medium-sized, stocky goose with a short, thick neck and a short, deep bill, mostly black with a narrow orange band behind the nail. Head and neck are dark chocolate brown and warm-toned, the body grey-brown with obvious pale feather fringes. Legs orange. The forewing is dark, with no grey at all.

Confusion species

Taiga Bean Goose is larger and longer-necked, with a long wedge-shaped bill carrying far more orange and a flatter forehead. Pink-footed Goose has pink legs, a pink bill band and a strikingly grey forewing. White-fronted Goose shows a white blaze and an all-pink bill. Always judge bill shape in strict profile.

Habitat

On sugar-beet fields, cereal stubble, maize residues and damp grassland, roosting on large pools, lakes and the IJsselmeer. Often in mixed flocks with White-fronted Geese. Breeds on arctic tundra in northern Russia and Siberia, beside pools and meandering streams in a landscape without trees.

Range and movements

Breeds from Novaya Zemlya and the Yamal Peninsula far into Siberia and winters in the Netherlands, Germany, Poland and Denmark. The Netherlands is a core area, with concentrations in Flevoland, Friesland, Groningen and northern Limburg. In Spain it is a rare vagrant, reaching that far only in occasional severe winters.

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

Where and when to look

November to February, early in the morning as flocks move from roost to beet fields. The Flevoland polders, the Lauwersmeer and northern Groningen are reliable. Scope the flock row by row for leg and bill colour, then re-examine any Taiga Bean candidate in strict profile before drawing a conclusion.

Conservation status

Numbers in the Netherlands swing widely with the severity of the winter, and mild winters shift the centre of gravity north-east. In the longer term the population appears stable to slightly declining. Hunting along parts of the flyway and changes in the arable landscape are the main uncertainties.