Greylag Geese staging and wintering in France 27
©Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust
Wildfowl
(2013) 63: 24–39
only regular wintering site for Greylag Geese
on the French Mediterranean coast.
As in most northwest European
countries, numbers wintering in France are
now much higher than at the beginning of
the 1980s, with a peak count of 28,342 geese
recorded in January 2011 (Fig. 2, from
Deceuninck
et al.
2013), with a long-term
(1987–2012) increase at the 88 most
important wetlands for waterfowl in France
(Fouque
et al
. 2005; ONCFS unpubl. data).
Only a few hundred Greylag Geese
wintered in the Camargue prior to the mid-
1990s (100–200 birds between 1990 and
1994; Thibault
et al
. 1997), after which
numbers gradually increased to 1,300
individuals by January 2000 (Kayser
et al
.
2003), 3,000 in January 2006 (Kayser
et al
.
2008), 4,200 in 2008 and up to 5,700 in 2011
(M. Gauthier-Clerc, pers. comm.). The
Camargue differs from most sites elsewhere
in France in that it appears to recruit its
wintering population from eastern Europe,
as described below.
Origin of the staging and wintering
Greylag Geese seen in France
The numbers of neck-banded Greylags
from different countries, re-sighted in
France and recorded in the
Figure 1
. Distribution and numbers of Greylag Geese counted in France in mid-January 2012. The
number of sites is given in parentheses. Map based on data from Deceuninck
et al
. (2013), courtesy of
the Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux/Wetlands International.
Baie de l’Aiguillon
Lacs de la Forêt d’Orient
Lac du Der
Etangs de Moselle
Camargue
Greylag Geese
in mid-January 2012
1,450–4,700 (5)
350–1,450 (8)
90–350 (11)
29–90 (18)
1–20 (44)
