General

Pink-footed Goose: Medium-sized goose with short, grey and dark pink bill, and pink legs and feet. Brown-grey back and wings with pale edging to feathers. White tail with grey band. Pale brown neck with dark brown streaks, and dark brown head. Pale brown below with dark brown barring on flanks. Also has white vent, rather short neck, and uniform, dark brown underwings. Sexes similar. Juveniles like adults but more uniform grey-brown and have duller pink bill.

Range and Habitat

Pink-footed Goose: Winter visitor to Britain, where numbers are increasing. Scarce to Ireland. They are found along the east coast of Scotland, and the east and north coasts of England. Birds breed in the Arctic and can be seen on winter grounds from autumn until spring. Prefer estuaries, can also be seen on farmland.

Breeding and Nesting

Pink-footed Goose: Nests in loose colonies in Arctic regions. Forms strong, permanent pair-bonds. Nest is a shallow scrape lined with moss, other vegetation, and down. Female incubates eggs while male defends young. Both parents care for young, who stay with parents until the next breeding season.

Foraging and Feeding

Pink-footed Goose: Summertime on the tundra it feeds on a range of plants on land and in water. Wintertime they graze primarily on oilseed rape, sugar beet, potato and various grasses. Also feeds on the roots, tubers, shoots and leaves of plants.

Vocalisation

Pink-footed Goose: Utters a harsh musical honking sound.

Similar Species

Pink-footed Goose: Bean Goose has a more black on base of bill, longer tail and neck, darker legs and feet and is more brown. Greylag Goose shares the pale, pink-hued legs, but is larger overall and lacks the black markings on the beak. In flight Greylag shows a lighter blue-grey forewing.