Michele Mendi

Discontinuous breeding distribution from Finnmark to eastern Siberia. Western populations mainly winter in central and south-east Europe, in countries bordering the European coasts of the Black Sea. Far eastern Siberian populations winter in Japan and China. Reinforcement efforts in northern Europe with a new migration flyway to the lower countries.

Season of assessment

B

Population trendDecreasing
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		340-530,420
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 Lesser White-fronted Goose

There are two main flyways for the species. Relict/reinforced populations breeding in Scandinavian highlands migrate to the lower countries, especially polders in Germany and the Netherlands (Aarvak et al. 2003; Lorentsen et al. 1998). Eastern breeders move to steppes of central Europe, especially Bulgaria and Hungary. Birds from Siberian Russia migrate to the SW and have been recovered wintering on the Caspian shores of Azerbaijan. The general movements therefore follow a north-south direction. No age-specific migration strategies, as expected from species undergoing fall familial migration. No ringing effort before the 1960s hence no old recovery.

Tracking data on Movebank concern birds breeding or released in Sweden and Finnmark (Aarvak et al. 2003; Lorentsen et al. 1998).

Recoveries by Condition for Lesser White-fronted Goose

Most recoveries obtained from visual resightings of colour marked individuals (~90%), even for the 1960-1990 period, but still some dead recoveries even in the recent period (6.5%).

Annual Movements for Lesser White-fronted Goose

There is not a lot to extract from less than 100 winter recoveries of mainly captive-bred and released individuals, beyond the general pattern described in the connectivity by month. There are a few records of Scandinavian birds moving to the east in the fall migration, recovered in Russia (Krasnodar) and even Kazakhstan. There are very few re encounters of ringed birds, most being of juveniles in the North and during the summer, so linked to reinforcement schemes. The natural annual movements of the species might be better understood from tracking mature individuals.

Connectivity by Month by Region for Lesser White-fronted Goose

Very few ring recoveries to document the overall temporal connectivity pattern. Most recoveries in the Netherlands are from November to February. Birds of North Europe are still on the winter quarters in March, on the move in April and arrive on breeding grounds in May, while they return to the wintering sites in September and October.

Frédéric Jiguet

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
Aarvak, T., Øien, I.2003 . Moult and autumn migration of non-breeding Fennoscandian Lesser White-fronted Geese Anser erythropus mapped by satellite telemetry. Bird Conservation International 13 Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959270903003174) : 213–226
Lorentsen S-H, Øien IJ, Tomas Aarvak T1998 . Migration of Fennoscandian lesser white-fronted geese Anser erythropus mapped by satellite telemetry. Biological Conservation 84 Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3207) : 47–52

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