Satellite tracking of Bean Geese Anser fabalis fabalis and A. f. rossicus from spring staging areas in northern Sweden to breeding and moulting areas

Abstract

In order to determine their breeding and moulting sites we fitted eight Taiga Bean Geese Anser fabalis fabalis and two Tundra Bean Geese A. f. rossicus with satellite transmitters in 2007–2009 at their spring roosting sites at Umeå and Luleå, Sweden. Nine of these transmitters transferred GPS positions for 1–4 months. All positions were N–ENE of the catching sites. The Tundra Bean Geese migrated to Finnmark in Norway and neighbouring parts of Finland. The Taiga Bean Geese migrated to sites near Övre Soppero (Sweden) and Kautokeino (Norway) in the west, through northern Finland, to Russian Karelia. Three of five Taiga Bean Geese with active transmitters flew to Novaya Zemlya to moult. Our results indicate that a significant proportion of the Taiga Bean Geese that migrate along the coast of northern Sweden in spring do not breed west of 20° E, and that many of them moult on Novaya Zemlya. The Tundra Bean Geese that pass through northern Sweden in spring belong to the Finnmark population that breeds slightly north of the Taiga Bean Geese.