REEST PJ VAN DER (1988) Distribution and feeding of geese wintering in a polder area in SW. Netherlands. LIMOSA 61 (2): 73-77.

The distribution and feeding of wintering geese in a Dutch polder area in sw. Netherlands (c. 7500 ha, fig. 1) was studied during a period of six years. Bean Geese Anserfabalis and White-fronted Geese A. a/bifrons were most abundant on farmland in the younger polders where they fed on cereals, waste potatoes and sugar beet left after the harvest. Greylag Geese A. anser, Barnacle Geese Branta /eucopsis, and Brent Geese B. bernicla occurred primarily in the older polders, where they grazed on pastures and young cereal fields (tab. 1). A change in the distribution of Bean Geese and Whitefronted Geese was observed during periods of frost (fig. 2, tab. 2). This change was associated with a shift to pastures and seed grass cultures (fig. 3A). This was presumably an effect of the reduced accessibility of food in the frozen soil. It is suggested that the occurrence of grassland areas amidst large agricultural fields is of ecological importance, since grassland may offer an alternative food source during periods of heavy frost. ##### Greylag Goose Anser anser Greater White-fronted Goose Anser albifrons Taiga Bean Goose Anser fabalis Pink-footed Goose Anser brachyrhynchus = Anser fabalis brachyrhynchus Barnacle Goose Branta leucopsis Tundra Bean Goose Anser serrirostris Taiga Bean Goose Anser fabalis

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