Bean Goose

Bean Goose
Bean Goose
: Animalia : Chordata : Aves : Anseriformes : Anatidae : Anser : fabalis
Binomial name
Anser fabalis (Latham, 1787)

The Bean Goose (Anser fabalis) is a large goose breeding in northern Europe and Asia. It is migratory and winters further south in Europe.

It has a long bill, black at the base and orange in the middle; the feet are also orange.

The upper wing-coverts are mouse-coloured, as in the White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons) and the Lesser White-fronted Goose (A. erythropus).

There are two races, considered by some to be full species. The larger fabalis, or Taiga Bean Goose and rossicus, Tundra Bean Goose, which breeds further north.

The closely related Pink-footed Goose (A. brachyrhynchus) has the bill short, bright pink in the middle, and the feet also pink, the upper wing-coverts being nearly of the same bluish-grey as in the Greylag Goose.

This species gets its English and scientific names from its habit in the past of grazing in bean field stubble in winter (Latin faber, a bean.)

The voice is a loud trumpeting.