Formerly treated as one species, the two
bean geese have been split on the basis of their habitats as much as anything.
As its name suggests, taiga breeds in bogs, marshes and pools in the taiga forest belt from northern
Scandinavia east across Russia. Numbers wintering in the UK have been much reduced of late, birds in
Norfolk restricted to a few near the old site in the Yare Valley. There are still reasonable numbers
in the Slammanan valley in Scotland, but fewer than in the past. This, as with all geese, does not
necessarily reflect on the numbers in existence, since wintering areas are often determined by
weather patterns.
Click on the photo to return to "ducks" or here for
HOMEPAGE
