Taiga Bean Geese?? (Estonia) (1 Viewer)

[Hippolais]

Hi, two days ago I photographed these Been Geese in Tallinn that were slightly larger than the White-fronted Geese: can they be Taiga ones??

 

[SteveClifton]

Short necks, not much bigger than WFG. Bill shapes look spot on for Tundra (A serrirostris)

 

[Hippolais]

Thank you Steve! Shame because I had tens of Bean Geese in Tallinn, but they all look Tundra ones...

 

[Jos Stratford]

Thank you Steve! Shame because I had tens of Bean Geese in Tallinn, but they all look Tundra ones...

Tundra are, by far, the most common of the two Beans migrating through the Baltics.

 

[Gladiator96]

Just returned from a week in Estonia. Plenty of Tundras everywhere although we had 2 good candidates for Taiga at Audru Polder as well as a Pink-footed Goose (quite rare)

 

[Hippolais]

Just returned from a week in Estonia. Plenty of Tundras everywhere although we had 2 good candidates for Taiga at Audru Polder as well as a Pink-footed Goose (quite rare)

I've read that Taigas should be about a third of all the Bean Geese observed in Estonia: do they migrate later in the season?

 

[Gladiator96]

I've read that Taigas should be about a third of all the Bean Geese observed in Estonia: do they migrate later in the season?

The impression I was given is that they are much rarer than that and they have been widely misidentified in the past so are likely overestimated.

 

[Jos Stratford]

I've read that Taigas should be about a third of all the Bean Geese observed in Estonia

That is far too high a percentage. In Lithuania at least, and I believe in southern Finland, the vast majority of Beans are Tundra. And since they are all the same birds migrating through, Estonia is going to be the same.

 

[Hippolais]

Ok, I understand... Is there a place in Europe where Taiga Bean Geese are the commonest ones?
In these photos the first bird on the left sounds with a longer neck than the other two: again variation among the serrirostris??

 

[Hippolais]

No opinions about the last 3 photos, please?? Here as well there are longer and shorter necks...

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Hello Luca,

even in the main wintering area of Taiga Bean Goose in Germany, the lower Oder valley, Tundra BG outnumbers Taiga on many/nearly most times and places.
Do you know excellent paper by Thomas Heinecke?https://www.dda-web.de/downloads/te...l_saat_kurzschnabelgans_in_ostdeutschland.pdf Its in german, but it has a distribution map of Taiga BG

All birds in your posts 9 and 10 look like Tundra BG to me.

 

[Hippolais]

Hello Luca,

even in the main wintering area of Taiga Bean Goose in Germany, the lower Oder valley, Tundra BG outnumbers Taiga on many/nearly most times and places.
Do you know excellent paper by Thomas Heinecke?https://www.dda-web.de/downloads/te...l_saat_kurzschnabelgans_in_ostdeutschland.pdf Its in german, but it has a distribution map of Taiga BG

All birds in your posts 9 and 10 look like Tundra BG to me.

Thank you Alexander, from what I can understand (I can't speak any German), the majority of the winter population of fabalis is in Germany and Sweden. Interesting since in Italy it was never reported and I keep hoping in see them once and now I know where most of them are!
Cheers

 

[Xenospiza]

Thank you Alexander, from what I can understand (I can't speak any German), the majority of the winter population of fabalis is in Germany and Sweden. Interesting since in Italy it was never reported and I keep hoping in see them once and now I know where most of them are!
Cheers

In the Netherlands Taiga Bean Goose has been less than annual in recent years. The numbers in the German article for the Netherlands in 1998-2003 seem much exaggerated and would not stand up to current scrutiny. In the 2000s, there was only one reliable flock which I managed to dip a couple of times (I did the same in Norfolk in the UK...).
Note that it is now so rare in the Netherlands that only "classic" individuals would make the cut – and not all of the birds photographed in Germany this year (on ornitho.de) would fit the bill either.