A goose is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera Anser and Branta. Some other birds, mostly related to the shelducks, have "goose" as part of their names. More distantly related members of the family Anatidae are swans, most of which are larger than true geese, and ducks, which are smaller.
WWT Slimbridge is a wetland wildlife reserve near Slimbridge in Gloucestershire, England. It is midway between Bristol and Gloucester on the eastern side of the estuary of the River Severn. The reserve, set up by the artist and naturalist Sir Peter Scott, opened in November 1946. Scott subsequently founded the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, which has since opened nine other reserves around the country. Slimbridge comprises some 800 hectares of pasture, reed bed, lagoon and salt marsh. Many water birds live there all year round, and others are migrants on their ways to and from their summer breeding grounds. Other birds overwinter, including large numbers of white-fronted geese and increasing numbers of Bewick's swans.
The greylag goose or graylag goose is a species of large goose in the waterfowl family Anatidae and the type species of the genus Anser. It has mottled and barred grey and white plumage and an orange beak and pink legs. A large bird, it measures between 74 and 91 centimetres in length, with an average weight of 3.3 kilograms. Its distribution is widespread, with birds from the north of its range in Europe and Asia often migrating southwards to spend the winter in warmer places, although many population are resident, even in the north. It is the ancestor of most breeds of domestic goose, having been domesticated at least as early as 1360 BCE. The genus name and specific epithet are from anser, the Latin for "goose".
The greater white-fronted goose is a species of goose that is closely related to the smaller lesser white-fronted goose. The greater white-fronted goose is migratory, breeding in northern Canada, Alaska, Greenland and Russia, and winters farther south in North America, Europe and Asia. It is named for the patch of white feathers bordering the base of its bill: albifrons comes from the Latin albus "white" and frons "forehead". In the United Kingdom and Ireland, it has been known as the white-fronted goose; in North America it is known as the greater white-fronted goose, and this name is also increasingly adopted internationally. Even more distinctive are the salt-and-pepper markings on the breast of adult birds, which is why the goose is colloquially called the "specklebelly" in North America.
The taiga bean goose is a goose that breeds in northern Europe and Asia. It is migratory and winters further south in Europe and Asia. This and the tundra bean goose are recognised as separate species by the American Ornithological Society and the International Ornithologists' Union, but are considered a single species by other authorities. The taiga and tundra bean goose diverged about 2.5 million years ago and established secondary contact c. 60,000 years ago, resulting in extensive gene flow.
The lesser white-fronted goose is a goose closely related to the larger white-fronted goose. It breeds in the northernmost Palearctic, but it is a scarce breeder in Europe, with a reintroduction attempt in Fennoscandia.
The bar-headed goose is a goose that breeds in Central Asia in colonies of thousands near mountain lakes and winters in South Asia, as far south as peninsular India. It lays three to eight eggs at a time in a ground nest. It is known for the extreme altitudes it reaches when migrating across the Himalayas.
The snow goose is a species of goose native to North America. Both white and dark morphs exist, the latter often known as blue goose. Its name derives from the typically white plumage. The species was previously placed in the genus Chen, but is now typically included in the "gray goose" genus Anser.
The barnacle goose is a species of goose that belongs to the genus Branta of black geese, which contains species with largely black plumage, distinguishing them from the grey Anser species. Despite its superficial similarity to the brant goose, genetic analysis has shown it is an eastern derivative of the cackling goose lineage.
The emperor goose, also known as the beach goose or the painted goose, is a waterfowl species in the family Anatidae, which contains the ducks, geese, and swans. In summer, the emperor goose is found in remote coastal areas near the Bering Sea in arctic and sub-arctic Alaska and the Russian Far East, where it breeds in monogamous pairs. It migrates south to winter in ice-free mudflats and coasts in Alaska, mostly the Aleutian Islands, and Canada's British Columbia, rarely reaching the contiguous United States. Listed as near threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the species' population is declining due to threats such as pollution, hunting, and climate change.
The swan goose is a large goose with a natural breeding range in inland Mongolia, Northeast China, and the Russian Far East. It is migratory and winters mainly in central and eastern China. Vagrant birds are encountered in Japan and Korea, and more rarely in Kazakhstan, Laos, coastal Siberia, Taiwan, Thailand and Uzbekistan.
Ross's goose is a white goose with black wingtips and a relatively short neck. It is the smallest of the three white geese that breed in North America. It is similar in appearance to a white-phase snow goose, but about 40% smaller. Other differences from the snow goose are that the bill is smaller in proportion to its body and lacks "black lips". The dark phase is extremely rare.
The Ribble and Alt Estuaries lie on the Irish Sea coast of the ceremonial counties of Lancashire and Merseyside in the traditional county of Lancashire in north-west England, and form the boundaries of a number of conservation schemes.
The Ythan Estuary is the tidal component of the Ythan River, emptying into the North Sea 19 kilometres (12 mi) north of Aberdeen, Scotland. The estuary’s tidal action extends a 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) inland and has characteristic widths of between 250 metres (820 ft) and 780 metres (2,560 ft). Besides the tidal channel there are interfaces to the upland dunes including mudflats, sand beaches and shingle flats. Reaches of salt marsh occur, but they are primarily near the Waterside Bridge and the mouth of the Tarty Burn, a small tributary river. Based upon the habitat of the moorland bordering the east of the Ythan River near the mouth, this estuary is the most significant coastal moorland in the northern United Kingdom.
Jacques Van Impe is a Belgian academic widely published in the field of ornithology. His research is particularly focused on reproduction in the greater white-fronted goose, the bean goose, the Eurasian oystercatcher, the pied avocet, the northern lapwing, the black-tailed godwit, and the common redshank.
Hoselaw Loch and Din Moss is a nature reserve near Kelso in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, in the former Roxburghshire.
The tundra bean goose is a goose that breeds in northern Siberia. This and the taiga bean goose are recognised as separate species by the American Ornithological Society and International Ornithologists' Union, but are considered a single species by other authorities. It is migratory and winters further south in Asia. The taiga and tundra bean goose diverged about 2.5 million years ago and established secondary contact ca. 60,000 years ago, resulting in extensive gene flow.
The bean goose is a goose that breeds in northern Europe and Eurosiberia. It has two distinct varieties, one inhabiting taiga habitats and one inhabiting tundra. These are recognised as separate species by the American Ornithologists' Union and the IOC, but are considered a single species by other authorities, such as the British Ornithologists' Union. It is migratory and winters further south in Europe and Asia.
The Northwest Russian-Novaya Zemlya tundra ecoregion is an ecoregion on the north coast of European Russia. It covers the southern shores of the White Sea, the coast of the Barents Sea east to the Yamal Peninsula, the southern half of Novaya Zemlya, and numerous inlets and islands. The low tundra wetlands are important breeding grounds for waterfowl. The ecoregion is in the Palearctic realm, and the tundra biome. It has an area of 284,122 square kilometres (109,700 sq mi).
Sushkin's goose is a putative species of goose now thought to be extinct. The status as a species has remained contested. It has sometimes been considered a subspecies of the bean goose but some have proposed, based on descriptions in life and specimens, that it was distinctive enough to be treated as a full species. It has been suggested that the Tunguska event of 1908 may have wiped out most of the breeding population in the Taiga region resulting in its dwindling to extinction. Some geese with "neglectus" type characters have been recorded suggesting that the last few populations hybridized with other geese such as the tundra and taiga bean goose in the breeding region.
