Feeding areas and local movement patterns of post-breeding Greylag Geese Anser anser in South Sweden

Abstract

Greylag Geese Anser anser mostly selected one field type, neglecting all other available types. After the breeding season they started to feed on grasslands, turned to peas during the end of July or the middle of August, and then shifted to wheat stubble in the first half of September. Only two other field types, barley stubble and newly-sown cereals, were occasionally selected. Most of the time they never showed any interest in oat stubble, newly-sown cereals and newly-sown rape. Rape stubble and ploughed fields were never used. Fields with high-energy food accounted for about 95% of all goosedays each autumn. The exploitation rate of large fields (>17 ha) with peas or wheat stubble was much higher than that of smaller fields with the same crop. Distances between roosts and feeding areas were normally less than 5 km. In October the activity pattern, characterized by two daily feeding periods, began to weaken, with some geese staying on the feeding grounds all day. In November all geese spent the whole day on the feeding grounds. The length of time spent on the feeding grounds per day increased from about 200 min. in mid-August to more than 400 min. in early October. The marked families not only stayed in the study area the whole autumn but moreover, they rarely moved between different gathering areas. There were no significant differences between families and pairs without young with respect to the time they were present and the number of times they moved between different gathering areas. Subadults moved between gathering areas significantly more often than did mature birds.

Neck collar retention in a Greylag Goose Anser anser population

“…The capture of Greylag Goose families for neckcollaring has been undertaken annually in a study area in south-western Scania, southernmost Sweden since 1985 (Persson 1994). For a description of the study area, see Nilsson & Persson (1992). Including a pilot catch in 1984, a total of 575 adults and 1700 goslings was fitted with engraved plastic collars as well as standard metal rings up to 2000 (Persson 2000).…”

Migration patterns of Nordic Greylag Geese Anser anser

“…The agriculture was dominated by grain culture, mainly winter wheat. The area was described by Nilsson (1995), Nilsson & Persson (1992, 1994, 1998 and Nilsson et al (1997),) who also presented data on the different use of fields around the lakes.…”

“…During late summer and early autumn Greylag Geese marked in Scania mostly remain in the local area (Figure 3, Appendix 2). This applies both to breeding and non-breeding birds marked in former years, the geese making quite extensive movements between different roosts in the region (Nilsson & Persson 1992). A concentration of the Greylags to coastal sites is going on throughout the autumn, as the inland gathering places are evacuated in relation to the ploughing of the main inland feeding areas (Nilsson & Persson 1998).…”

“…After breeding, Scanian Greylag Geese gathered in small groups at their breeding sites (Nilsson & Persson 1992) together with geese returning from their moulting areas (Nilsson et al 2001). These groups congregated into larger flocks eventually merging into one or two or three large flocks in the lakes and one coastal flock.…”

“…Whereas the Norwegian Greylags arrived early in the Netherlands and used staging areas in this country (and Denmark) for building up their reserves after breeding, the Greylag Geese from Scania did not arrive until October-November after refuelling in Scania (Nilsson & Persson 1992, 1998. The Scanian Greylags stayed only for a short period on the staging areas before leaving for the winter quarters, which for an increasing proportion were situated in the Dutch Delta area.…”