Pink-footed Goose

The Pink-footed Goose is a relatively small, short-billed member of the gray goose group, breeding in Greenland, Iceland, and Svalbard and wintering in large numbers on farmland and estuaries in the British Isles and neighboring countries. Its dark head contrasting with a paler body, short bill, and pink legs distinguish it from the similar Bean Goose.

Body feathers are grayish-brown neatly fringed pale gray or white, giving fine, even scaling across the back and flanks. Head and neck feathers are noticeably darker brown than the body, creating a subtle hooded effect useful for identification even without seeing the bill. The bill is short and stubby with a variable pink band, and legs are pink—both useful distinctions from the orange-legged, longer-billed Bean Goose, which is also more uniformly dark overall without the contrasting darker head.

Sexes are alike. Juveniles are duller and less evenly scaled than adults, with a less pronounced dark hood. Adults molt flight feathers after breeding on Arctic and subarctic nesting grounds, undergoing a flightless period.

Breeds on Arctic tundra and rocky terrain in Greenland, Iceland, and Svalbard. Winters on estuaries, farmland, and coastal grassland in Britain, the Netherlands, and Denmark, forming some of the densest goose concentrations in Europe.

Grazes heavily on waste grain, root crop remains, and grassland, often in enormous single-species flocks on wintering grounds. Nests on the ground, sometimes on cliff ledges in areas with predators. Highly gregarious and vocal, with a distinctive high, musical honking heard from large flocks moving between roosts and feeding fields at dawn and dusk.