A note on migration ecology, population status and interactions with agriculture of Barnacle Geese Branta leucopsis in Estonia.

The first all-Estonian count of Barnacle GeeseBranta leucopsis took place in spring 1968, whenabout 10 000 staging geese were counted (Kumari1971). In the first half of the 1970s the number ofgeese was estimated at 15 000-20 000 (Jagi 1976).Since 1974 aerial counts have been made to estimatetheir number and distribution. In the secondhalf of the 1970 18 000-25 000 Barnacle Geesewere counted in spring in western Estonia, in the1980s their number further increased to 35 00057000 (Fig. 1). More than 90 different staging sitesare known, especially on the islands Saaremaa,Hiiumaa and Muhu, and along the western coast(Fig. 2). An assembly holds on an average almost1000 geese.

Leito A., ARDEA 79 (2): 347-348.