Field choice was recorded during counts of geese in South-west Scania, South Sweden in autumn (October and November) and in winter (January), 1977/1978–2011/2012. Sugar beet spill was the most important field type in autumn and during the last ten years also in winter. Bean Geese Anser fabalis used this food source when the study started while Canada Geese Branta canadensis, Greylag Geese Anser anser, White-fronted Geese Anser albifrons and Barnacle Geese Branta leucopsis followed during the years 1987–2001. Potatoes were mainly used when fields with sugar beet spill were unavailable. Cereal stubbles were mainly used in autumn and to a quite low extent. Winter cereals were heavily used by most species in both autumn and winter during the first 15 years but less so thereafter. Grasslands were mainly used in winter, to a large extent by White-fronted Geese and to a quite high extent by Bean Geese and Barnacle Geese. The total use of oilseed rape was low, mainly by Canada Geese that utilised fields with no-till when the ground was snow-covered.

The recent increase of the Greylag Goose Anser anser population has caused complaints about crop damage. In response to this, the Nordic Collegium for Wildlife Research started a neck-banding program to elucidate the migration and movement patterns. During 1984–2009, 2,639 Greylag Geese were marked in a breeding area in SW Scania, southernmost Sweden. Up to and including 2012, 15,296 re-sightings were reported from outside the breeding area (in addition to more than 100 000 from the breeding area). In the early years of the study, the majority of the geese migrated to winter in southernmost Spain, staging in The Netherlands. In later years, hardly any individuals migrated to Spain, the majority staying in The Netherlands with an increasing proportion wintering in southern Sweden. From 1986 to 2017, the mean latitude for re-sightings changed ten degrees to the north. About 13% of the geese changed winter quarters between two consecutive winters. Moreover, the southward migration occurred much later in the autumn and the geese returned to the breeding areas about one month earlier in spring.

This report provides basic data about hybrid geese and mixed pairs in Sweden; combinations of species, numbers, trends and origins, which can serve as a framework for future studies. Data published in national, regional and local magazines and reports as well as unpublished observations through August 2007 have been analysed. Sightings in this report were based on the observers’ suggestion of parent species. No less than 17 species were involved in the hybrid geese sighted in Sweden. Some of the combinations of species involved the red-listed species Lesser White-fronted Goose, the nominate race of Taiga Bean Goose and Red-breasted Goose. The first combinations of species appeared in Sweden already 1918–1930s, but since the last half a century, the number of hybrid geese in Sweden shows a positive trend. Several explanations to this increasing trend is proposed but not further analysed. Among all the several theories proposed for hybridisation in geese, field data from Swedish goose haunts support at least two; the ”Best-Option-Hypothesis” and ”Interspecific mate choice following false imprinting”.

In the municipalities of Bromölla and Kristianstad, south Sweden, monthly counts of Bean Geese have been carried out during October–March/April since November 1976. The seasonal peak count was up to 1987/1988 recorded in March, during the following six seasons in January, and from 1994/1995 onwards in November or December. April numbers decreased from more than 5,000 birds in 1977 to hardly any at all from 1997 onwards. Fewer Bean Geese were counted up to the 1986/1987 season than thereafter. In most of the last 25 seasons, the number of Taiga Bean Geese Anser fabalis fabalis in north-east Scania peaked at about 20% of the total Western Palearctic population, with a highest count of 24,000 birds in December 1997. Most or all Bean Geese left north-east Scania during severe winters. Checks of staging bean goose flocks and hunting bags showed that, except for Lake Hammarsjön from 2004/2005 onwards and a few flocks in the other areas, the Tundra Bean Goose Anser serrirostris rossicus was quite rare in the region.

During 1984–2009, Greylag Geese Anser anser were neck-banded at two lakes six kilometres apart in south-west Scania, southernmost Sweden: 2,308 at lake Yddingen and 633 at Klosterviken (part of lake Börringe). Through 2013 we recorded 51,132 and 29,937 resightings, respectively. We analyse the distribution patterns within Scania during the post-breeding months July–March. In spite of the short distance between the breeding sites, marked differences in the local distributions were found. In late summer and early autumn, Greylags from Klosterviken stayed longer inland close to the breeding lake than geese from Yddingen, the availability of good inland feeding sites close to Klosterviken explained the difference. In late autumn, when many resightings were made along the western coast, it seemed that the distance from the breeding lake explained some of the differences, geese from Yddingen dominated in the northern part, whereas geese from Klosterviken were found further south. There was also a time difference in that the birds from Yddingen moved to the coast earlier than those from Klosterviken.