Barnacle Goose

Barnacle geese frequently build their nests high on mountain cliffs, away from predators (primarily Arctic foxes and polar bears), but also away from their feeding grounds such as lakes, rivers. Like all geese, the goslings are not fed by the adults. Instead of bringing food to the newly hatched goslings, the goslings are brought to the ground. The parents show them the way to jump from the cliff and the goslings follow them by instincts and take the plunge. Unable to fly, the goslings, in their first days of life, jump off the cliff and fall; their small size, feathery down, and very light weight helps to protect some of them from serious injury when they hit the rocks below, but many die from the impact. Arctic foxes are attracted by the noise made by the parent geese during this time, and capture many dead or injured goslings. The foxes also stalk the young as they are led by the parents to wetland feeding areas. Due to these hardships only 50% of the chicks survive the first month.

Barnacle geese breed mainly on the Arctic islands of the North Atlantic. The three main populations, with separate breeding and wintering ranges, from west to east, are: Breeding in eastern Greenland, wintering on the Hebrides of western Scotland and in western Ireland, population about 40,000 Breeding on Svalbard, Norway, wintering on the Solway Firth on the England/Scotland border, population about 24,000 Breeding on Novaya Zemlya, Russia, wintering in the Netherlands, population about 130,000 A new fourth population, derived from the Novaya Zemlya population, has become established since 1975 breeding on the islands and coasts of the Baltic Sea (Estonia, Finland, Denmark, and Sweden), and wintering in the Netherlands. Its population numbers about 8,000. Small numbers of feral birds, derived from escapes from zoo collections, also breed in other Northern European countries. Occasionally, a wild bird will appear in the Northeastern United States or Canada, but care must be taken to separate out wild birds from escaped individuals, as barnacle geese are popular waterfowl with collectors.

The barnacle goose is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds applies. According to Sveriges ornitologiska förening, the geese began breeding in Sweden in 1971, and according to Skansen, it was 40 years ago, more or less, when the entire population of barnacle geese left in the autumn to return in spring, soon after they began breeding in the wild. The number of barnacle geese is stable to increasing.