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The Species

The Lesser White-fronted Goose (LWfG) is a palearctic goose species, that breeds in the low-arctic tundra zone and in the forest-tundra zone from northern Fennoscandia to eastern Siberia. The stronghold of the world population is breeding in the central parts of Siberia (Yamal – Taimyr Peninsulas).

An aerial view of the autumn staging site of the Fennoscandian Lesser White-fronted Geese on the Kanin Peninsula, NW Russia © WWF / Petteri Tolvanen

The nesting habitat is typically low-arctic open tundra or forest-tundra dominated by dwarf shrubs and the typical feeding habitat in the breeding season is sedge marshes/mires around lakes. During the migration, the species prefers low growth salt marshes/coastal meadows (e.g. in northern Norway, on the Bothnian Bay coast in Finland, and in western coast of Estonia), and (originally) natural steppes (e.g. in Hungary). Due to the transformation of much of the original, natural staging and wintering habitats in the southern parts of the range, the main feeding habitat in many areas is nowadays agricultural land.

During the autumn migration, the Fennoscandian LWfG population has an important staging site in the northern part of Kanin Peninsula (north-western arctic Russia), and here the population divides in two parts for the winter: supposedly more than half of the Fennoscandian LWfG follow the ‘European migration route’ from Kanin via the Baltic States to Hungary, and further south to the wintering sites in northern Greece and westernmost Turkey (e.g. the Evros Delta area). In addition to the Fennoscandian LWfG, some north-west Russian birds join this flyway. The other part of the Fennoscandian LWfG migrate south-east of the Kanin Peninsula staging site, and join the flyway of the western main population of the species (via north-western Kazakstan and further south). The present LIFE project was focussing on conservation of the ‘European migration route’ population.

In Fennoscandia, the LWfG arrive at the breeding sites in the end of May – beginning of June, and the autumn migration starts (as soon as the juveniles have fledged, and the breeding adults have finished the moult) in mid-August. The average schedule of the migration is roughly the following:

• early June – early August: breeding areas
• August: staging areas in northern Norway
• September: Kanin Peninsula, Russia
• October: Hungary
• November/December-March: Greece (and Turkey?)
• March-April: Hungary
• mid-April – early May: western Estonia
• mid-May: Finnish Bothnian Bay coast
• late May – early June: Valdak Marshes and other staging areas in Finnmark, Norway

A flock of Lesser White-fronted Geese © WWF / Petteri Tolvanen

The following wintering / staging sites along the European migration route are known:

• Evros Delta (Greece, and possibly also Turkey?)
• Lake Kerkini, Nestos Delta, Lake Mitrikou (Greece)
• Hortobágy, Biharugra, Kardoskút (Hungary)
• Galenbecker and Putzarer See (Germany); Nemunas Delta (Lithuania)
• Matsalu, Silma, Nigula (Estonia)
• Hailuoto–Liminganlahti (Finland)
• Stabbursnes, Varangerfjord (Norway)
• Kanin Peninsula, Russia

Based on the present knowledge, the sites in Germany and Poland are most likely only of marginal importance as stop-over sites of Fennoscandian LWfG. The LIFE project revealed a spring staging area in the Nemumas Delta, Lithuania. Most likely some (especially spring) staging sites in between the known sites still remain unknown. To improve the conservation status of the Lesser White-fronted Goose along the European migration route, it is essential to locate the unknown staging areas, and to improve the protection status of the species at the known sites.

Idenfication

The similarity of the Lesser White-fronted Goose and the White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons) is one of the main challenges in the conservation of the Lesser White-fronted Goose.Separating these two species is surprisingly difficult, and the White-fronted Goose is an important quarry species in many counties within the range of the Lesser White-front. Size alone can not be used to identify the species, and the typical yellow eye ring of the Lesser White-front is visible only at relatively close range,

• download summary on the identification (pfd, 633 kB) © LWfG LIFE project & Jari Kostet

Distribution

The historical range of the Lesser White-fronted Goose covers the whole subarctic Eurasia, but nowadays the distribution is patchy. The recent estimate of the mid-winter world population of the LWfG is 22,000-27,000 individuals. The world population is (also genetically) divided in two parts, a western and an eastern flyway population, with a geographic divide on the Taimyr Peninsula area in northern central Siberia.

The western part of the world population (ca 15,000 individuals) migrates via north-western Kazakstan to the (still mostly unknown) wintering areas in the Caspian and/or Black Sea area, while the eastern flyway population winters mainly in China (especially in the East Dongting Lake Nature Reserve, where up to 16,000 individuals have been counted in recent winters).

The Life project targeted the wild Fennoscandian breeding population that is estimated to hold only some 20 breeding pairs at the moment (2009). In the first decades of the twentieth century the Fennoscandian breeding population was estimated at more than 10,000 individuals.

In addition to the major divide between the western and eastern populations/flyways, the Fennoscandian population, that presently numbers breeding ca 20 pairs in the Nordic countries (Norway, Finland, Sweden) and an unknown number of breeding pairs on the Kola Peninsula (Russia), shows evidence of being a distinct unit within the western population, with little exchange with other breeding areas.

All the LWfG populations have a declining trend. In Fennoscandia, the average rate of the annual decline in the recent years (1993-2008) has been estimated at 4% (at the spring monitoring site in the Inner Porsangen Fjord, Norway).

Main threats for the Lesser White-fronted Goose

Contrary to all other arctic goose species regularly occurring in Europe, the general migration direction of the western LWfG populations is south/south-east, and the wintering sites are mainly located in eastern Europe and in the Black Sea/Caspian Sea region. In these areas, the control of hunting as well as the conservation of wetlands is less advanced than in Western Europe, and this is one of the most important reasons for the endangered status of the LWfG, while practically all other arctic goose populations wintering in western Europe are thriving.

Based on all available recent information, all LWfG sub-populations are at least vulnerable, if not critically endangered. The Fennoscandian population is so small that it is already on the verge of extinction. Stochastic events like e.g. several years in a row with unfavourable weather conditions during the breeding season may drive the Fennoscandian population to extinction, and thus there is an urgent need to protect the population more effectively. As a whole, the European migration route can be considered as insecure for the species, as the annual monitoring at the spring staging areas has shown a continuos decline in the number of individuals.

Threat 1: High mortality due to hunting and poaching

A juvenile (left) and an adult (right) Lesser White-fronted Goose shot by hunting tourists in Kostanay region, NW Kazakstan © WWF / Petteri Tolvanen

High mortality due to high hunting pressure alone is sufficient to explain the continuos decline of the LWfG populations. The breeding success (juvenile production) of the Fennoscandian LWfG population is in general at a level that is normal for arctic goose species, and the high mortality caused by hunting during the migration and wintering clearly is the most important single threat for the population. This has become evident based on ringing and satellite tracking programmes.

Spring hunting of adult birds exert particularly harmful effects on the population. A lower mortality rate as a result of better control on hunting, combined with the good breeding success, would lead to an increasing population trend. The growth rates of the Brent Goose and Barnacle Goose populations wintering in the western Europe are good examples of the effect of the control of hunting of arctic geese.

Threat 2: Habitat loss on the staging and wintering grounds

The feeding conditions along the migration routes and in the wintering areas have deteriorated through the transformation of the natural steppes (the former wintering habitat of the LWfG) into cultivated land, and many wetlands (e.g. important roosting sites) have been drained. This development has happened throughout most of the assumed range of the species. In northern Greece, marshland habitat which is favoured for feeding, have been converted into agricultural land.

The spring staging areas on the Baltic Sea coast (Estonia, Finland) have been traditionally extensively used for hay-cutting and livestock-grazing, but are now being overgrown by Reed and other vegetation. Loss and deterioration of preferred, original habitats has forced the LWfG to use sub-optimal and less safe areas for feeding and roosting. The energy intake may be lower than in the optimal habitat, and the competition with other species may be higher, and this may lead e.g. to a lower breeding success. In less safe areas the LWfG may also be shot.

Threat 3: Disturbance

Human activities like e.g. traffic (including flight traffic), hiking and tourism (including e.g. fishing tourism in the breeding areas and bird watching at some of the staging sites); agriculture; and hunting (even if the geese are not directly shot) scare the geese, and force them to move to sub-optimal and less safe areas for feeding and roosting, and is causing also loss of energy (less time for feeding, feeding in a sub-optimal habitat). When scared by human activities, the LWfG may also have to fly to/via areas where hunting pressure is high.

Threat 4: Lack of knowledge

The LWfG is a very rare and – as a consequence of this – poorly known species, and there is still lack of basic knowledge e.g. on the migration routes, staging/wintering sites and conservation requirements at these sites. Due to lack of knowledge, the conservation measures can not always be targeted and planned in the most efficient way. There is need for further conservation research and monitoring, also after the LIFE project.

Additional threats for the Lesser White-fronted Goose population

Increased depredation by the Red Fox – and possibly also disturbance and ecosystem effects by the over-dense Reindeer populations - are potential threats on the breeding grounds in Fennoscandia. These threats were not, however, directly targeted by the project, because so far there is no direct evidence on that (and how) these threats would significantly affect the breeding success of LWfG in Fennoscandia, and more research is needed in order to reveal the significance of these threats.

An additional threat for the Fennoscandian LWfG is the possible hybridisation with the reintroduced and/or escaped captive LWfG (cf. IUCN guidelines for reintroduction and restocking). As shown by the recent genetic studies of the Finnish and Swedish stocks used or planned to be used in the reintroduction programmes, hybridisation with the White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons) and Greylag Goose (Anser anser) has occurred several times during the captive history. The reintroduced birds of these captive stocksform also threat in the sense that the small unpedigreed and ill managed captive populations might have accumulated deleterious mutations with untested effects in the wild. When introduced into small wild population, these alleles might become quickly fixed by genetic drift and accelerate the extinction of the wild Fennoscandian population. The LIFE project did not directly target the genetic threat.

Conservation status of the Lesser White-fronted Goose

The Lesser White-fronted Goose (LWfG) is a globally threatened species, that is included in Annex I of the Birds Directive (79/409/EEC). In the breeding areas in Fennoscandia the species is ranked according to the IUCN criteria as Critically Endangered (CR) in the Red Data Books of Finland, Sweden and Norway. The SPEC category of the LWfG is SPEC 1 (Species of global conservation concern).

In 1996, European Commission published an international Action Plan for the Lesser White-fronted Goose, in which locating and assessing key areas is ranked as the highest conservation priority (essential). Further on, promoting the legal protection of the species and the key sites, reducing the hunting pressure, managing habitats and prevent further losses in the staging and wintering grounds, are listed as high priority actions in the international action plan.

Other high priority actions in the action plan are: monitoring the remaining populations and raising public awareness of the species, and promoting the use of international conventions for the protection of the species together with direct discussions between range states.

The LIFE project carried out conservation actions prioritised in the (1996) international Action Plan along the European flyway of the species. During the project, the international action plan of the species was updated, and the new International Single Species Action Plan for the Conservation of the Lesser White-fronted Goose Anser erythropus (Western Palearctic Population) was adopted by AEWA in 2008. The LIFE project took actively part in the preparation of the plan,