BERGH LMJ VAN DER (1984) Short contributions: Movements of Bean Geese Anser fabalis between West en Central European wintering areas. LIMOSA 57 (3): 116-116.

Taiga Bean Goose Anser fabalis Many GDR colour-marked Bean Geese seen in the Netherlands/Niederrhein area between late November and late January often disappear shortly afterwards. Some birds are seen in GDR in February, but most of them are not seen again. Based on recoveries along the Rhine south of Dusseldorf (FRG) of birds ringed in the Netherlands in December, we tried to find the missing geese in Central Europe. During a visit to Hungary and Austria in NovemberDecember 1980, we did not see any marked Bean Geese among 40 000 birds. However, between 27 February and 7 March 1981, on the main geese haunt near Tata we found eleven marked birds that could be identified. Three of them were already known from the Netherlands/Niederrhein area, of which one from the same season. In February-March 1982, we observed 16 marked birds near Tata. Of eleven birds from which we could read the neck collar inscription, three were known from the North See area. One of these birds was observed near the Dutch/German border only 11 days earlier. These observations indicate that many Bean Geese of the West European wintering population may fly to Central Europe in the second part of the winter season.

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