Geese- ORDER: Anseriformes
- FAMILY: Anatidae
Basic Description
With subtle gray and buff-pink plumage, a stubby bill, and bubblegum legs, the Pink-footed Goose is a cute bird that lives an extreme lifestyle. They are at home on the windswept tundra and remote cliffs of Iceland, Greenland, and Svalbard, where they breed. On migration and in winter they form huge flocks, thousands strong, in grasslands and crop fields of the United Kingdom and western Europe. They are rare visitors to the eastern United States and Canada, where they tend to fall in with groups of Canada Geese.
More ID InfoFind This Bird
Pink-footed Geese breed in very remote areas, where you may see a family group walking single file across windswept tundra. It may be a better bet to look for them on migration or during the winter. Look for large flocks foraging in grasslands or agricultural fields and resting on lakes or coastal estuaries in the United Kingdom and western Europe. In the U.S. and Canada, the best way to find this rarity is to diligently scan flocks of Canada Geese from fall through spring.
Other Names
- Ánsar Piquicorto (Spanish)
- Oie à bec court (French)
- Cool Facts
- Pink-footed Geese are one of the champion walkers of the bird world—family groups regularly walk up to 15 miles across the tundra with young birds that are not yet able to fly.
- In June thousands of young Pink-footed Geese leave Iceland and fly in an odd direction—north, and as far north as 83°N latitude—to Greenland. There they molt and then return to Iceland in August before moving on to spend winter in the United Kingdom.
- Pink-footed Geese can live a long time—the oldest on record was 38 years, 7 months old.
- Pink-footed Geese were once very rare wanderers to the United States and Canada. Though still rare, sightings have become more common since the early 2000s. eBird shows scores of records scattered across Atlantic Coast states and provinces from Virginia to Newfoundland and Labrador.