Greater White-fronted Geese are large geese with a long neck.
They have a dark-grey head, with a white frontal mask around
the base of the upper bill. The front is mid-grey, with
prominent irregularly shaped broad dark-grey bars on the
belly. The
undertail coverts are light-grey. The back is mid-grey,
like the front. Only the wings have a brownish-grey bar
pattern on the coverts. The flight feathers are dark-grey.
The irises are dark-brown. The bill is pink, with a light-grey
tip, while legs and feet are bright-orange.
First
winter Greater White-fronted Geese have only a small
white frontal mask and little or no barring on the belly.
Juveniles
are all-grey, without a facial mask and a black tip of the
bill.
The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and
specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found,
based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to
ebird.org
.
The global distribution of the Greater White-fronted Goose is available
HERE
.
There are several races of Greater White-fronted Geese, of which nominate
race "albifrons"
has the widest distribution (for details see a field guide).
The range of the Greater White-fronted Goose extends basically around
the northern hemisphere. Their breeding grounds are in the Arctic,
spanning all northern continents and coastal areas of islands, such
as Iceland and Greenland.
Their wintering grounds are in temperate to subtropical climate zones,
from Mexico and the US in North America to parts of central Europe,
Asia Minor and on throughout mid-latitude Asia and parts of the
Arabian coastlin to Mongolia, southern China, Korea and Japan and
far-eastern Russia in the East.
In continental Europe only Greater White-fronted Greese of nominate race
"albifrons"
are found as winter visitors. They occur in suitable wetlands in northern
central Europe (the Benelux countries, southern Denmark, northern Germany
and northern/central Poland), in parts of the Danube catchment (most
prominently in the Hungarian Pusta) and along the North coast of the
Black Sea. Apart from these areas, they are found only in selected
wetlands in central Germany, western/central France and northern Spain.
Otherwise, they can be observed as large skeins on the sky during their
migration from the wintering grounds to their breeding grounds in northern
Siberia.
On the British Isles races "flavirostris" (from Greenland) and
"albifrons"
can be found as winter visitors.
In Europe Greater White-fronted Geese can be found in both coastal
and riverine wetlands, usually in grassland/meadows near shallow
water.
Sightings
Click here for sighting information
D. Wilczynska reports spotting Greater White-fronted Geese, race
"albifrons",
in wetlands of the river Bug, near Brok, Masovia, Poland, in March 2017.
J. Pires reports spotting Greater White-fronted
Geese, race
"albifrons",
in the Tejo estuary, Portugal, in October 2018.
Photos
Race "albifrons"
ADULT
Sex unknown
Adult Greater White-fronted Geese, with a prominent white facial
mask, together with first-winter birds just developing a facial
mask (e.g. on the right) and juveniles, e.g. back left, that
still have a dark tip on the bill (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[River Bug, near Brok, Masovia, Poland, March 2017]
Small part of a flock of Greater White-fronted Geese
on meadows in a riverine wetland (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[River Bug, near Brok, Masovia, Poland, March 2017]
Part of a large flock of Greater White-fronted Geese
on meadows in a riverine wetland (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[River Bug, near Brok, Masovia, Poland, March 2017]
Part of a large flock of Greater White-fronted Geese
taking to the air (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[River Bug, near Brok, Masovia, Poland, March 2017]
Large flock of Greater White-fronted Geese congregating
in preparation for their migration to northern Siberia
(photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[River Bug, near Brok, Masovia, Poland, March 2017]
IMMATURE/JUVENILE
Adult Greater White-fronted Geese, with a prominent white facial
mask, together with first-winter birds just developing a facial
mask (e.g. on the right) and juveniles, e.g. back left, that
still have a dark tip on the bill (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[River Bug, near Brok, Masovia, Poland, March 2017]
Juvenile Greater White-fronted Geese, without a white facial
mask yet, in flight (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[River Bug, near Brok, Masovia, Poland, March 2017]
More Greater White-fronted Goose sound recordings are available at
xeno-canto.org
.
These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our
contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species
please refer to a field guide.