Anser erythropus

This rare species has been re-introduced in N Scandinavia through a project in which Lesser White-front's eggs were placed in the nests of Barnacle Geese Branta leucopsis and thus hatched by these. Apparently this worked, for the numbers that had come very close to 0 during the 1970s, rose again and birds were even seen wintering in The Netherlands. First only in the companionship of Barnacle Geese, later more regularly with Greater White-fronts Anser albifrons. Recently they even arrived in family groups, sometimes more than 20 birds strong. One of the places to see these groups is Camperduin in North-Holland. Here the birds mingle with large numbers of Greater White-fronts and Greylag Geese Anser anser and even some feral geese, which are all-white or show white patches. Many of the Lesser White-fronts wintering here are colour-ringed and therefore have evolved from the re-introduction project. Some of the birds, however, are not colour-ringed and may therefore have originated from originally wild populations. Unfortunately, juvenile birds are now extremely rare again, so the prospects of this elegant species returning for ever are definitely not good.

Copyright ©Teus Luijendijk 2001