Greylag Goose

How to recognise it

• Big, heavy grey goose with a thick orange-red or pink bill and white nail
• Paler breast and belly with black spots, white undertail and no white on the head
• In flight: pale head, dark back and pale grey forewings that can look almost white
• Sexes alike, young birds lack black spots on breast and belly and have greyish legs

Call and song

The Greylag Goose is very noisy, with harsh, nasal, cackling calls. The most typical call is a ”kijaaa-ga-ga” with the first note in falsetto. A flock sounds like baying hunting dogs.

Where and when

A partial migrant, it breeds across much of southern Sweden and along the Norrland coast, preferably on the coast and in the outer archipelago. It is seen mostly March to October, but is reported all year and from all 21 counties. In winter it uses shore meadows, flooded fields and pastures near water. Large numbers of young geese gather yearly to moult on the islets at Rone near Gotland.

Food and behaviour

Adults feed on plant material, mainly grass, while the young eat many small animals. Greylags are very wary and give loud warnings at the slightest danger. On longer journeys the flock flies in a V formation. Right after breeding they moult and cannot fly. A clutch is usually four to six eggs, which the female usually incubates for 27 to 28 days.