Ringelgans Hesse

The Brant goose is a true Arctic species. Its breeding grounds lie in the coastal tundra of the high Arctic, and the subspecies relevant for Europe (Branta bernicla bernicla) breeds in northern Siberia between roughly 65 and 80 degrees north, especially on the Taimyr Peninsula. There it makes use of the very short Arctic summer before adults and juveniles begin the long migration to Western Europe. For observers in Germany the Brant goose is therefore almost exclusively a winter visitor and migrant along the North Sea coast. The Wadden Sea is of international importance for the population. Only a smaller share actually winters in the German Wadden Sea, with the main wintering grounds situated along the Dutch coast, the Rhine-Meuse delta, and the southern and eastern coasts of Great Britain. By contrast, the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea with its Halligen islands is one of the most significant spring staging areas. During the return migration up to about 50,000 birds gather here, grazing red fescue and common saltmarsh grass on the salt marshes and feeding on eelgrass and green algae out on the tidal flats. In these few weeks they need to put on roughly a third of their body weight to fuel the onward flight to the Arctic and the rapid breeding cycle. In the field, reliable identification against other members of the genus Branta is essential. With a body length of about 55 to 60 centimetres the Brant is the smallest of these geese and looks markedly dark and compact. Unlike the barnacle goose it lacks the conspicuous white facial mask, showing only a narrow white neck ring on an otherwise entirely black head. The barnacle goose is clearly larger, paler on the underside, and shows contrasting pale grey upperwings. The Canada goose is larger and heavier still and carries a white chin patch rather than a neck ring. Barnacle and Canada geese may be hunted regionally in Germany, whereas the Brant goose is protected year round. Clean identification on the coast and in the Wadden Sea is therefore critical, so that a protected Brant goose is never confused with a huntable relative. Please note that hunting law in Germany is set at the federal-state level. The binding rules are the hunting-season ordinances (Landesjagdzeitenverordnungen) of your federal state, together with the nature-conservation requirements of the German Federal Nature Conservation Act and the EU Birds Directive.