Pink-footed Goose Anser brachyrhynchus
The Pink-footed Goose population overwintering in Norfolk has been increasing for many years now and reached an all-time high of over 150,000 in December 2004. Changes in EU funding policy have affected sugar-beet growers in Norfolk and as a result the species favourite food is likely to become harder to find in future, so it is quite possible that these numbers may begin to fall again now.
This page was getting quite long so I've moved some of the photos to a second page.
Pink-footed Geese with orange bare parts
A small proportion of Pink-footed Geese show orange legs, inviting confusion with Tundra Bean Geese. Typically they have rather duller orange legs than Bean Geese, but individuals with bright orange legs do occur occasionally. In addition, the legs of typical pink-legged individuals can appear a dull orangey-brown when stained with mud.
Pink-footed Geese are much less variable in their bill colour (although the pattern of dark and pink is highly variable). Occasionally individuals may appear to show a wholly or partly dull orangey-coloured bill, however close examination will normally show that this effect is just a consequence of a thin coating of mud (see photos below).
There is some variation in tone of pink with some birds showing a slight orangey hue, but truly orange-billed Pink-footed Geese are exceptional. I study tens of thousands of Pink-footed Geese each winter and although I have seen many orange-legged individuals I had never encountered one with a genuinely orange bill until November 2006 when I discovered the following bird which showed both orange legs AND an orange and black bill. The orange on the bill had a slight pinkish tone so it wasn't always obvious, but it was clearly orange and most of the time it stood out from the accompanying pink-billed individuals. The possibility of it being a Tundra Bean Goose was considered, but in every respect apart from the bare part colouring it appeared to resemble a normal Pink-footed Goose - in particular the white at the tip of the tail (shown in the right hand photo below) was too extensive for Bean Goose.
Tundra Bean Geese frequently overwinter among the Pink-footed Goose flocks in Norfolk, sometimes remaining with them well into the spring. It must be very likely that a few remain with them during the breeding season and hybrids should be expected. I believe there is a strong chance that this bird was such a hybrid, although I cannot rule out the possibility that it was simply a Pink-footed Goose with unusual bare part colouration.
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Pink-footed Goose or hybrid Pink-footed Goose x Bean Goose (with Pink-footed Geese), between Docking and Brancaster (Norfolk, UK), 17th November 2006.
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The bill colour of the following bird was clearly more orangey than the legs, or most Pink-footed Geese's bills, but not as orange as the putative hybrid above. A second bird in the same group was similar.
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Pink-footed Goose, Thornham (Norfolk, UK), 9th December 2008
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Aberrant Pink-footed Geese
Leucistic Pink-footed Geese occur quite frequently, while piebald individuals can also be encountered. The latter have varying amounts of whitish plumage, typically including the primaries and usually bands across their underparts (ranging from an almost entirely white belly to a slight streak across the breast). Whilst a small amount of white around the bill is not at all abnormal, the extent of pale around the face of one of the individuals below is exceptional - this individual also showed a faint pale eye-ring.
The following birds were small, skinny and extremely dark but also had varying amounts of red on the underparts. Both of these birds were in one flock, though they were not together. I have seen birds with similar red markings in previous winters. I've come up with a number of possible, although not very convincing, explanations ranging from red dye used for colour-marking, blood, erythrochroism and contamination - the last was favourite and it's now been suggested to me that red diesel may be the contaminant.
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small dark and red-plumaged Pink-footed Geese, Thornham (Norfolk, UK), 4th December 2008
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Neck-ringed birds
A large number of Pink-footed Geese have been marked by way of a conspicuous neck ring bearing unique two or three character codes. A few carry leg rings bearing similar codes. If you submit details of ringed individuals you will receive in return a thorough report of all sightings of the individual goose since it was first ringed.
More photos of Pink-footed Geese on a second page.

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