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Barnacle Goose

Barnacle Goose

Branta leucopsis

Identify the Barnacle Goose by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

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The Barnacle Goose is a compact, striking black-and-white goose with a white face set against a black head, neck and chest and a silvery-grey barred back. It breeds in the Arctic, from Greenland and Svalbard to Novaya Zemlya, and winters in north-western Europe; new populations have become established around the Baltic in recent decades. Known for nesting on cliffs from which its downy goslings leap to feeding grounds below, it has generally been thriving.

Did you know?

  • Its English name comes from the medieval belief that the birds grew from barnacles attached to driftwood.
  • Newly hatched goslings often jump from high cliff nests, usually bouncing to safety thanks to their light, downy bodies.

Voice

Call
Flight call

About the species

Identification

A stocky, medium-sized goose: black head and neck with a clear white face and forehead; the white belly and black breast create strong contrast. The back is grey with black and white barring. Told from Canada Goose by smaller size and white face; compared with Brant Goose it has a white belly and paler grey upperwing.

Family

Anatidae

Size

Very large (swan)

Colours

black, white, grey

About the habitat

Breeds on Arctic coasts, cliffs and tundra islets, and increasingly in archipelagos further south. Outside the breeding season coastal meadows, saltmarshes, estuaries, open fields and urban parks and lawns.

Diet

Mainly short grasses, sedges and herbs; on the breeding grounds tundra plants and mosses; in winter coastal pastures and fields with sprouting cereals.

Behaviour

Highly social, feeding and roosting in tight flocks and flying in lines or V-formations with yapping calls. It nests colonially on cliffs or predator-free islets; the goslings leave the nest within a day and follow their parents to feeding areas, sometimes jumping down cliffs to get there.

Sources

Photo: Andreas Trepte, CC BY-SA 2.5 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Barnacle-Goose.jpg

Sound: Pascal Christe, XC466464, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://xeno-canto.org/466464

Sound: Joost van Bruggen, XC433386, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://xeno-canto.org/433386

Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions, CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnacle_goose

See also