Pink-footed Geese

I have been very busy the past 6 weeks or so watching Pink-footed Geese Anser brachyrhynchus at staging sites along the Norwegian coast, with 2 weeks fieldwork in the Helgeland area of Nordland county, and then 4 weeks around the Levanger area in Nord-Trøndelag county.

The photos below are all from the Levanger area. Amongst the Pink-feet were several other geese. Other goose species recorded included Bean Geese Anser fabalis (two subspecies: fabalis and rossicus), Greylag Geese Anser anser, White-fronted Geese Anser albifrons (two subspecies: albifrons and flavirostris), and Barnacle Geese Branta leucopsis.

Pink-footed Geese. Levanger, October 2012.

Pink-footed Geese & one Barnacle Goose. Levanger, October 2012

Pink-footed Geese and one Eurasian White-fronted Goose. Levanger, October 2012.

 

Pink-footed Geese and one Greylag Goose. Levanger, October 2012.

 

Time for a preen.

 

Snowfall forced thousands of Pink-footed Geese to head south, and only a few hundred remained in the Levanger area in late October (2012).