Barnacle Goose

Branta leucopsis (Bechstein, 1803)

≈58 cmLength108 cmWingspan1.7 kgWeight

This medium-sized goose has a white face, black head and neck, and a striped silver-gray back.

Busiest months: April–May and October · Most records: United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland

Looks like Cackling Goose, Canada Goose

Least Concern

How to identify

Field marks

Face white; head, neck and upper breast black
Belly white; back and wings silver-gray with black-and-white stripes
Bill small, short and stout; bill, legs and feet black
V-shaped white patch on the rump in flight; underwing coverts silver-gray

Male, female and young

Juvenile resembles adult, but feathers on the upper back and flanks have rounded rather than square tips.

Similar species

Cackling Goose

Cackling Goose has a brown body and less white on the head; Barnacle Goose has a grayish-white body and more white on the head.

Canada Goose

Barnacle Goose is smaller than Canada Goose, with a smaller bill.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: April–May and October · Most records: United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland

Barnacle Goose has been recorded at 713 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 43 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

Minsmere RSPB ReserveUnited Kingdom3,761 records
WWT Slimbridge Wetland CentreUnited Kingdom2,693 records
Espoo – Laajalahti MaariFinland1,338 records

More places

Ottenby – södra uddeSweden981 records
Saltholme RSPB ReserveUnited Kingdom834 records
Rutland WaterUnited Kingdom797 records
ØstensjøvannetNorway766 records
Hjälstaviken NRSweden740 records
Frampton Marsh RSPB ReserveUnited Kingdom726 records
Walthamstow WetlandsUnited Kingdom715 records

Countries and regions with the most records

United Kingdom Sweden Finland Netherlands Norway Germany Denmark Svalbard & Jan Mayen

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The barnacle goose (Branta leucopsis) is a species of goose that belongs to the genus Branta of black geese, which contains species with extensive black in the plumage, distinguishing them from the grey Anser species. Despite its superficial similarity to the brant goose, genetic analysis has shown its closest relative is the cackling goose.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions

How big is the Barnacle Goose?

The Barnacle Goose is about ≈58 cm long, with a wingspan of 108 cm and weighs around 1.7 kg.

Where does the Barnacle Goose live?

Its breeding range: Palearctic: high Arctic eastern Greenland, Svalbard (north of Norway), Novaya Zemlya and nearby Kolguyev and Vaygach islands (northwestern Russia). It is most often recorded in United Kingdom, Sweden and Finland.