The taiga bean goose (''Anser fabalis'') is a species of

goose A goose (: geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera '' Anser'' (grey geese and white geese) and '' Branta'' (black geese). Some members of the Tadorninae subfamily (e.g., Egy ...

that breeds in northern

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. It is migratory and winters further south in Europe and Asia. This and the

tundra bean goose The tundra bean goose (''Anser serrirostris'') is a goose that breeds in northern Siberia. This and the taiga bean goose are recognised as separate species by the American Ornithological Society and International Ornithologists' Union, but are co ...

were recognised as separate species by the

International Ornithologists' Union The International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) is an international organization for the promotion of ornithology Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", ...

and the

American Ornithological Society The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its ...

from 2007, but are still considered a single species by some other authorities (collectively called

bean goose The bean goose is a species complex of goose that breeds in northern Europe and Palearctic, Eurosiberia. It has at least two distinct varieties, one inhabiting taiga habitats and one inhabiting tundra. These are recognised as separate species by ...

), notably

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

and the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

. The taiga and tundra bean goose diverged about 2.5 million years ago and established

secondary contact Secondary contact is the process in which two allopatrically distributed populations of a species are geographically reunited. This contact allows for the potential for the exchange of genes, dependent on how reproductively isolated the two popu ...

60,000 years ago, resulting in extensive

gene flow In population genetics, gene flow (also known as migration and allele flow) is the transfer of genetic variation, genetic material from one population to another. If the rate of gene flow is high enough, then two populations will have equivalent ...

Description

The length ranges from , wingspan from and weight from . In the

nominate subspecies In biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics ( morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. ...

, males average and females average . The bill is black at the base and tip, with an orange band across the middle; the legs and feet are also bright orange. The upper wing-coverts are dark brown, as in the

white-fronted goose The greater white-fronted goose (''Anser albifrons'') is a species of goose, closely related to the smaller lesser white-fronted goose (''A. erythropus''). The greater white-fronted goose is migratory, breeding in northern Canada, Alaska, Gre ...

(''Anser albifrons'') and the

lesser white-fronted goose The lesser white-fronted goose (''Anser erythropus'') is a goose closely related to the larger greater white-fronted goose (''A. albifrons''). It breeds in the northernmost Palearctic, but it is a scarce breeder in Europe, with a reintroduction ...

(''A. erythropus''), but differing from these in having narrow white fringes to the feathers. The voice is a loud honking. The closely related

pink-footed goose The pink-footed goose (''Anser brachyrhynchus'') is a goose which breeds in eastern Greenland, Iceland, Svalbard, and recently Novaya Zemlya. It is migratory, wintering in northwest Europe, especially Ireland, Great Britain, the Netherlands, a ...

(''A. brachyrhynchus'') has the bill short, bright pink in the middle, and the feet also pink, the upper wing-coverts being paler and greyer, nearly of the same bluish-grey as in the

greylag goose The greylag goose (''Anser anser'') is a species of large goose in the waterfowl family Anatidae and the type species of the genus ''Anser (bird), Anser''. It has mottled and barred grey and white plumage and an orange beak and pink legs. A lar ...

. In size and bill structure, it is very similar to the tundra bean goose subspecies ''Anser serrirostris rossicus'', and in the past was sometimes treated as a sixth subspecies of bean goose.

Taxonomy

The

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

and

scientific names In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

of the bean goose come from its habit in the past of grazing in

bean A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are traditi ...

field stubbles in winter. ''Anser'' is the Latin for "goose", and ''fabalis'' is derived from the Latin ''faba'', the

broad bean ''Vicia faba'', commonly known as the broad bean, fava bean, or faba bean, is a species of vetch, a flowering plant in the pea and bean family Fabaceae. It is widely cultivated as a crop for human consumption, and also as a cover crop. Vari ...

Subspecies

There are three

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

, with complex variation in body size and bill size and pattern; generally, size increases from north to south and from west to east.

Conservation

The western subspecies ''A. f. fabalis'' wintering in Europe are considered to migrate across three different flyways: Western, Central and Eastern; these have been confirmed by stable isotope analysis of their flight feathers. ''Anser fabalis fabalis'' is one of the species to which the ''Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds'' (

AEWA The Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds, or African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement (AEWA), is an independent international treaty developed under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme's Convent ...

) applies. It is a rare winter visitor to

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

; there are two regular wintering flocks of taiga bean goose, in the Yare Valley,

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

and the Avon Valley between Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland. A formerly regular flock in

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway (; ) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the no ...

no longer occurs there.

References

External links

RSPB Birds by Name – Bean Goose

BirdGuides Bean Goose Page

Cyberbirding: Bean Goose pictures
* * * * {{Authority control

taiga bean goose The taiga bean goose (''Anser fabalis'') is a species of goose that breeds in northern Europe and Asia. It is bird migration, migratory and winters further south in Europe and Asia. This and the tundra bean goose were recognised as separate spec ...

Birds of Scandinavia Birds of Russia