Gunther Zieger

A small, colourful goose species that breeds on the Yamal and Taymyr peninsulas in northern Russia. The population has decreased and may be as small as 44,000 individuals. Winters along the Black Sea coasts of Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine, and near Debrecen in Eastern Hungary. They are regular and increasing in winter in the Low Countries, but numbers are still low.

Season of assessment

W

Population trendDecreasing
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		10000-49400,18800
Red List categoryVU
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for Red-breasted Goose

The lack of ringing data from wintering sites in E Europe and staging and breeding sites in Russia hampers interpretation. All current connections are oriented E-W, and recoveries during passage are in S Russia and Kazakhstan suggesting a migration route due E from wintering grounds and then N from Kazakhstan. There has only been one direct connection between a breeding site on Yamal and wintering site in Netherlands. There are a few winter connections between the main Bulgarian and Hungarian wintering sites. Patterns from existing ringing data are biased towards relatively unimportant wintering sites in the Netherlands and aberrant individuals.

Recoveries by Condition for Red-breasted Goose

Nearly 70% of recoveries are of live birds, although 20% were shot. In recent decades fewer than 10% of recoveries are of shot birds.

Annual Movements for Red-breasted Goose

Recoveries during autumn passage in Kazakhstan and Russia occur in Oct. Some birds reach the wintering grounds in Oct (Netherlands), but the majority of winter recoveries are in Dec and Feb (Hungary, Bulgaria). Spring passage encounters occur in mid-Mar (Germany) and the end of Apr (Russia). The only encounter in the breeding area is at the beginning of Jun.

Connectivity by Month by Region for Red-breasted Goose

Only scant information is available. A bird ringed in Feb in the Netherlands and shot on Yamal in early Jun is the only connection between wintering and breeding grounds. A bird on passage in Kazakhstan in Oct was found on a main wintering site in Bulgaria in Feb. Two birds ringed in Moscow at the end of Oct and recovered in the Netherlands are of dubious origin. A bird breeding on a small islet in the Finnish Gulf, far outside the normal range, has been recorded in Helsinki city park in Sep and Oct. Finally, a bird on passage outside range in Germany in Mar was recovered west of Ufa, southern Russia, in Apr.

Henk van der Jeugd

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries