| Red-breasted Goose | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Anseriformes |
| Family: | Anatidae |
| Genus: | Branta |
| Species: | Branta ruficollis |
The Red-breasted Goose (Branta ruficollis) is an endangered goose that is a breeding endemic bird of north Russia.
Description[]
This is the smallest goose of the genus Branta, with a length of 53-56 cm (20.8-22 in), the males having a mass of 1.3 kg (2.8 lbs), and the females weighing up to 1.1 kg (2.4 lbs). Adult Red-breasted Geese display a bright and contrasting coloration, combining chestnut-red, white, and black tones. It resembles a small goose with a thick neck and short beak. Young birds are similar to adults, but generally dimmer, with a vague pattern and a less developed (sometimes absent) chestnut spot on the cheeks. In addition, on the wings of juvenile birds, there are 3-5 light stripes instead of two in adults.
Voice[]
When landing on water and taking off, Red-breasted Geese emit loud cries that can be heard at a great distance. The generic calls are defined as a ringing disyllable cackling or low clucking, somewhat resembling the calls of the Lesser White-fronted Goose or the Greater White-fronted Goose, but sharper and with a kind of tinny quality - givvy, givvy. In addition, the bird emits a characteristic hiss.
Behavior[]
This goose is a very mobile and sociable bird. In addition, they swim and dive beautifully at any age. In winter and on migration, Red-breasted Geese often keep in flocks and stop to rest only at nightfall.
Feeding[]
The diet is quite limited; like that of other geese in general, it includes only plants and vegetation. During the breeding season, it feeds on leaves, shoots and rhizomes of various grasses and certain species of sedge and horsetail. During wintering times, it feeds on pastures, lawns and fields sown with winter wheat, barley, and corn. In arid steppe regions, it eats shoots, tubers and rhizomes of ephemeral cereals, salicornia, pondweed, bedstraw seeds, bulbswild garlic. Food is obtained on land during daylight hours. Sometimes in the middle of the day, the birds take a break and leave for a watering hole in a nearby reservoir. As a rule, they spend the night on the water, but sometimes in places of feeding.
Breeding and Nesting[]
Sexual maturity occurs at the age of 3-4 years, and pairs are formed in wintering grounds. Displays include the ritual immersion of the beak in the water, performed by both birds of the pair, and the male's vertical pose, in which he runs over the female. After copulation, the geese strongly spread their wings, fluff up their tail, and stretch their necks with a cry. They nest in pairs or in scattered colonies of 4-5 pairs, almost always on a cliff and under the auspices of a bird of prey that has settled in the vicinity, primarily a Peregrine Falcon, or less often, a colony of large gulls.
It starts building the nest immediately after arrival. The nest is open, usually a depression on a relatively flat area of the slope, filled with dry stalks of grasses and other vegetation, and a thick layer of dark brown fluff. The finished clutch contains 3-9, usually 5-7 creamy white eggs, sometimes with a greenish tint. The female incubates for 23-25 days, while the male is nearby on the water or on the shore. Downy chicks hatch in the second half of July, when the period of postbreeding molt begins in adult birds. Both parents lead the brood to damp grassy lawns, where they keep until climbing on the wing in the last decade of August. Often broods unite and become more like a "kindergarten", in which a large group of chicks are guarded by several old birds.
Distribution and Habitat[]
The breeding range is distributed in the tundra zone from the Yamal Peninsula to the Taymyr Peninsula, where the bird is also regarded as a symbol of the Dolgan people and the region. The main wintering grounds are located in Bulgaria, Turkey and the south-western part of Ukraine. During the nesting period, it inhabits the subzones of shrub and typical (moss-lichen) tundra (early sources also indicated the northern part of the forest tundra). It prefers the driest and most elevated areas near the water, often with rare plantings of dwarf birch, willow, sometimes with bunch of dry weeds. In particular, it often settles on steep cliffs along the banks of rivers and ravines near the nests of Peregrine Falcon, Rough-legged Buzzard or Snowy Owl, less often on gentle rocky islands near Herring Gull colonies or Glaucous Gulls.