While on a short visit to Stockholm recently we were surprised to see a large gaggle of barnacle geese (Branta leucopsis) and their goslings happily strolling through a park near the Vasa museum. It appears they have found a comfortable eco-niche in which to breed and rear their chicks and are well established in the area. It would be interesting to know from which population group they originate and where they migrate to in winter. Calling on my blogging friends, or perhaps one of the savvy birding bloggers to help solve this riddle for me?
Nature on the Edge 
Sorry I can’t help you, Liz but they do look a little like their Canadian cousins. I like their black bibs!
Rather though, those Canada variety have more finesse 🙂
They remind me of the cape barren geese we get down here 😊
wikipedia has this: “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. Population about 8,000.”
Thanks for this Eliza; clever birds. This environment looks very agreeable for raising chicks – no nasty carnivores.
Perhaps this little populations doesn’t migrate. This often happens in parks, that some birds find it unnecessary to migrate. Have to ask the local birders.
Could be. Have been digging round the BirdLife website – will be interesting to find out more.
I love geese, I think they’re the bird world’s comedians.
They certainly have voice projection in delivering their lines 🙂
Agree the might not migrate?
Could be – hoping to find more via BirdlLife.
There seem to be increasing numbers of members of some traditionaly migratory species choosing to take up permanent residency in parts of the UK too. It is thought to be down to climate change, (like everything else we can’t really explain) – or perhaps it’s just evolution in progress?