The Lesser White-fronted Goose


photo: Steve Dahlfors

The Lesser White-fronted Goose Anser erythropus is now more threatened than ever. A review of the wintering populations of the Lesser White-fronted Goose concludes that the rapid population decline still continue. The species is by BirdLife International listed as globally threatened; i.e. considered to become extinct if the negative trend continues. The world population of Lesser White-fronted Geese has traditionally been divided in three breeding meta-populations; the Fennoscandian, the Central Russian and the Far Eastern. In Fennoscandia the population was estimated to be more than 10 000 individuals in the first half of the century. From the 1950s until the early 1980s, the population declined by 90-95% and the range by at least 50 %. In the period 1980-1996, the decline continued and at present the population counts about 1 % of its former size. This represents approximately 30-50 breeding pairs.
Since 1987, the Norwegian Ornithological Society (NOF) has run the Lesser White-fronted Goose Monitoring Programme. The first years were spent on mapping breeding and staging areas as well as studies on the reasons for the population decline in Norway. These studies revealed that the main causes had to be sought along the migration routes and in the wintering areas. The core problem was, and partly still is, that the staging and wintering grounds for the species are virtually unknown. Due to the steady and alarming decrease in the Fennoscandian breeding population of Lesser White-fronted Goose, actions were needed to locate the staging and the wintering grounds. In 1993 NOF (in co-operation with WWF-Finland and the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research) started the planning of a project of locating the staging grounds along the migration routes and wintering grounds for the Fennoscandian population by employing the new technology of satellite transmitters. The ultimate aim of this project is to turn the negative population trend for the Lesser White-fronted Goose through establishment of protected sites, implementation of management plans and conservation efforts. This can only be carried out through a joint effort from the countries managing breeding populations (Russia, Norway and Finland), and the countries managing staging and wintering populations (Germany, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Hungary, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and China). In 1995 we caught four geese in Finnmark (the northernmost county in Norway; see map) and all of them were equipped with a satellite radio transmitter attached on their back. The satellite signals led us to a previously unknown staging ground on the western coast of the Kanin Peninsula, in Russia. On the background of these results, WWF's work on establishing a protected area in the staging ground on the Kanin Peninsula has already successfully resulted in the establishment of the Nature Reserve Kaninski Federal Zakaznik. In 1997, NOF managed to catch and mount satellite transmitters on three Lesser White-fronted Geese at the Valdak Marshes during spring staging. None of these individuals bred this year, and they all left Central Finnmark already in the end of June and migrated eastwards. Two of them utilised the Kanin Peninsula, while one individual went somewhat further, - to the Kolgujev Island. One of the birds staging at Kanin Peninsula continued to the Pyasina River on the Taimyr Peninsula from where the signals ceased. In 1998, NOF co-operated with WWF-Finland and the Geese and Swans study Group of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Three adult Lesser White-fronted Geese and one gosling where caught at the Taimyr Peninsula, and the adults were fitted with satellite transmitters. You can follow the progress of their migration on this home page. The south-western autumn migration route to the winter quarter for the Fennoscandian breeding population seems well covered, while there is still a lack of knowledge about where the geese migrate after they have reached Kazakhstan. The wintering areas for this route is unknown. The study has also shown that breeding birds from Fennoscandia, Yamal - and Taimyr Peninsulas utilise the same route to Kazakhstan and that they migrate together. In addition to the Nature Reserve at the Kanin Peninsula, a general hunting ban of all geese has been introduced in Greece since the satellite telemetry project started. Work is also in progress to reduce the impact of hunting in the staging areas by an extensive awareness campaign directed towards management authorities and hunters. Also in this follow-up work, we co-operate closely with BirdLife International and BirdLife-partners in the countries where staging and wintering areas are localised.

Källa: Björn Welander , tel: 08-612 25 30