Wintering geese

NatureScot reported on 23 October that large numbers of geese from Greenland, Svalbard and Iceland reach Scotland each winter.

Norsk Polarinstitutt (the Norwegian Polar Institute) describes the Svalbard side of that movement in its Cruise Handbook for Svalbard. It said most birds that breed in the archipelago fly south in late summer or autumn, to areas with a milder climate and more food. Among land birds, only the Svalbard rock ptarmigan stays through the winter. Among seabirds, the institute said the black guillemot, the common eider and the long-tailed duck normally stay, in small numbers along the coast.

The institute said geese return to Svalbard from mid-May and need snow-free ground to breed. In years with late snowmelt, geese may stop breeding to concentrate on their own survival.

Background from 2023: Polar Journal reported in March of that year that pink-footed geese breed in Svalbard, East Greenland and Iceland. It said they winter in Belgium, the Netherlands, Great Britain and sometimes Denmark.

Coverage: NatureScot, Polar Journal