TIMMERMAN A (1977) The winter occurrence of the Pink-footed Goose Anser brachyrhynchus. LIMOSA 50 (3): 71-91.

I. The introduction states that the Pink-footed Goose hunting was under discussion in The Netherlands and that as a result of this the Minister of Agriculture closed the hunting by season 1976177. 2. The wintering areas of the breeding population of Greenland and Iceland, which are in Scotland and England, are mentioned, as are those of the Spitzbergen breeding population. The latter winters chiefly in The Netherlands and Northern Germany (Fig. 1-5). 3. The biotope in all wintering grounds is roughly the same. However, there is a striking difference in the diet of the British winter population and that of the North Sea population. The latter feeds mainly on grass and the former on waste cereal and waste potatoes. 4. The British winter population has increased in the past twenty years by 35%; Danish counts indicate a rise of 20% in the North Sea population. This is not, however, convincingly evidenced from the numbers seen in The Netherlands and Western Germany. The main reason is that there are few simultaneous counts at the West-German and Dutch stopping places (Fig. 6-11). 5. The distribution and the numbers of the Pink-footed Geese in The Netherlands are discussed. The species was found in large numbers in Zeeland as long ago as 1900, but since 1920 the Pink-footed Goose has disappeared from that region. The geese used to winter mainly in the region of the Jadebusen and in the foodplains of the Ems, Leda and Jiimme. Not until the second half of the fifties were considerable numbers found in the stopping places in Friesland. The reason given for this shift was the disturbance from hunting activities and the dike construction along the Ems, Leda and Jiimme. Changes in the occupation ofthe stopping places and resting places in the course of about 25 years are discussed (Fig. 12 and 13). The Pink-footed Goose is only found in small numbers in the IJsselmeer polders and the Delta 'region. Some hundreds of these birds winter every year at Damme (Belgium). 6. Between 1967 and 1974 fewer Pink-footed Geese were observed in The Netherlanc:is than previously. Research in The Netherlands and elsewhere indicated, however, that the breeding population of Spitzbergen did not decline but increased, like that of the other species of geese. ThePinkfooted Goose changed its main wintering areas four times in 75 years. It has been concluded that an undisturbed wintering ground is of great importance to this small population. Human activity is beginning to have an increasingly detrimental effect on the conservation of the population in the breeding grounds too. Both situations should be taken into account in the management of the population in the wintering areas. Anser brachyrhynchus = Anser fabalis brachyrhynchus

[free pdf] [dutch summary]