28 Greylag Geese staging and wintering in France
©Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust
Wildfowl
(2013) 63: 24–39
database, were 198 from Norway, 162 from
Sweden excl. Södermanland, 219 from
Södermanland in Sweden (introduced
population), 19 from the Netherlands, 5
from Germany and 9 from the Czech
Republic. The majority (95%) of 614 neck-
banded Greylag Geese seen in France
therefore came from Norway and Sweden,
although these represented only 8.2% of
7,075 Greylags marked in the Nordic
countries (Fig. 3). This relatively low re-
sighting frequency for birds marked in
Norway (5.5% of all neck-banded geese
reported at least once in France over the
years) and Sweden (5.5% reported,
excluding the special case of geese marked
in Södermanland, discussed below) is clearly
related to the country being visited mainly
during migration, with the geese staging
only for short periods. The re-sighting
frequency is much higher from countries
where the geese stage or winter for longer
periods: Germany 21%, the Netherlands
76% and Spain 47% for birds marked in
Norway, and Germany 14%, the
Netherlands 49% and Spain 29% for birds
marked in Sweden. Only a small number of
individuals neck-banded in Germany, the
Netherlands and the Czech Republic have
been recorded in France, however 0.7% of
4,895 geese marked in these countries,
except for Czech-marked birds re-sighted in
the Camargue (see below), so the proportion
of Nordic-ringed birds re-sighted in France
is significantly higher than those from other
countries (
χ
2
1
= 192,
P
< 0.001 on omitting
geese marked in Södermanland).
The Greylag Geese seen in western France
originate mainly from southern Sweden and
Norway, whereas those introduced to Öster-
Malma in Södermanland, south-central
Sweden were found to winter mainly in a
restricted area around Lac du Der. A total of
405 Greylag Geese were neck-banded at
Figure 2
. Number of Greylag Geese counted in France in mid-January over the period 1987–2012.
Data from the Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux/Wetlands International (Deceuninck
et al.
2013).
0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
30,000
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
2015
Number of Greylag Geese in mid-winter
Year
