I looked into the status of the Barnacle Goose in its traditional nesting
habitat in coastal areas of Greenland, Svalbard and Arctic Russia. It seems
that it has expanded from a world population in 1960 of 30,000 birds, to about
1 million today. There has also been a diaspora of them into Baltic nesting
areas and into The Netherlands. Years ago, there was a small nesting population
in Northern Scotland and I would imagine they may have moved back into there.
There's a lot of them that winter in that area.
Considering that there's more than 30 times as many of them as there were 65
years ago, it wouldn't be surprising if there was a trend for them to seek out
new territory. A few of them might have carried an exploration as far as
Oregon. I doubt that those being seen here now are escapees from captivity. All
the Barnacle Geese I've seen in waterfowl collections have been pinioned and
would never be able to fly, as they're kept in open enclosures. The ODFW and
USFWS have regulations for breeders prohibiting them from allowing non-native
birds to escape and mix with native species. A license or permit could be
revoked if a breeder violated this.
You seldom see carelessly-released parrots flying around, which is mainly due
to their high monetary value. The same is true for exotic geese, which are very
expensive to buy. I found a current price of $325.(plus shipping) per pair of
Barnacle Geese for juveniles, which won't nest until they're at least three
years old. If you have to ask what a pair of Emperor or Red-breasted Geese
would cost, you couldn't afford them.
Since the three Barnacle Geese are here in October, they will likely stay for
the Winter, unless they meet a bad fate. It would be interesting to see what
they may do next Spring.
Steve McDonald
http://www.ipernity.com/home/305883
http://flickr.com/photos/22121562@N00/
http://www.vimeo.com/user458315/videos
https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=229807ce52dd4fe0
OBOL archives: www.freelists.org/archive/obol
Manage your account or unsubscribe: //www.freelists.org/list/obol
Contact moderators: obol-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
