According to a Swedish colleague whom I asked about this a few years
ago, the nesting population of Barnacle Geese in southern Sweden and the
Baltic region was introduced. So that lines up with Lars' suspicions.
My Swedish field guide notes that nesting was first observed on Gotland
in 1971 and thereafter on the island of Öland, then the Stockholm
archipelago. They are now a common park bird in Stockholm. About 15
years ago I saw a hybrid Canada x Barnacle Goose swimming on the Fyris
River in Uppsala, Sweden. Canada Geese are also an introduced species in
the Baltic region.
Regarding Brant, I think there have been small numbers of non-breeding
but apparently wild birds on Yaquina Bay for quite a few summers. Range
Bayer mentioned something about this when I reported a small group under
the bridge a few years ago.
Joel
On Sat, 21 May 2016 08:41 PM Lars Norgren wrote:
Barnacle Geese are a high arctic breeder that is now a widespread
nester in the Baltic and up the weste coast of Sweden at least as far
as Hvaler National Park over the Norwegian border. I suspect it's an
artifact of captive pioneers. Lars
