International Single Species Action Plan for the ... - AEWA

AEWA Technical Series No. 36 - Annexes
Annex 1
Additional biological information
Survival and productivity Life cycle Habitat requirements
Almost half of the 15 wild Fennoscandian geese
tagged or ringed in Finland/Norway in 1995 and
1996 were shot or probably shot (Markkola, 2005;
Aarvak et al. 1997). The major known causes of
death of released captive-bred birds 1980-1998
were shooting and predation (by mink, Goshawk
Accipiter gentilis, Golden Eagle Aquila
chrysaetos, White-tailed Eagle Haliaeetus
albicilla, fox and dogs). Collision with power lines
was also recorded (Markkola, 2005).
An analysis by Lampila (2001), underlined that
adult mortality and changes in the rate of adult
mortality are key factors determining population
trends for Lesser White-fronted Goose.
Mean brood size observed at Valdak Marshes (first
autumn staging site for the Fennoscandian
population) between 1994 and 2000 was 3.2
juveniles (Aarvak & Øien, 2001).
Breeding
Generally arrives on breeding grounds from early
May to late June and departs between mid-August
and September (Madsen 1996). Breeding
behaviour and pre-nesting activity little studied
(Fox 2005). Single brood, clutch size 4-6
(exceptionally 1-8), incubation by female for 25-
28 days in the wild, starting mostly during early
June. Pairs form in 2nd or 3rd year. (Fox 2005).
Moulting
Non-breeding Fennoscandian and Russian birds
undertake moult migration, while breeding birds
moult on the breeding grounds. Syroechovskiy
(1996) found that breeding birds in Taimyr
moulted during the first week of August, while
non-breeding birds moulted during the last 10 days
of July. In the Polar Urals and Yamal Peninsula
(Western Siberia) breeding birds moult on the
breeding grounds from mid-July until the first 10
days of August (V. Morozov, pers. comm.)
In 1997 a satellite-tracked bird of the
Fennoscandian population left the breeding
grounds in the first half of July and arrived on
Breeding
Breeds in the forest tundra and southern tundra
belts of northern Eurasia, with a preference for
bush tundra interspersed with bogs and lakes
(UNEP/WCMC 2003). Breeding habitat
requirements are different in different parts of the
distribution range.
A wetland system on the mountain plateau of
Finnmark (northern Norway) constitutes the core
known breeding area for the species in
Fennoscandia (Øien et al. 2001). A field survey of
part of the Kola Peninsula, north-westernmost
Russia, in June 2001 found small numbers of
Lesser White-fronts in an area of mainly treeless
tundra with many lakes, ponds, rivers and streams
and no permanent human settlement (Timonen &
Tolvanen 2004).
In the basins of the Velt and Neruta rivers, in the
Malozemelskaya Tundra region of Arctic northern
Russia, nest sites were located on river banks with
herb vegetation, mosses, willow (Salix) shrubs and
dwarf birch (Betula nana) sometimes with large
mounds and sand-clay outcrops. The river bottom
was usually stony, often with a wide, sandy
International Single Species Action Plan Lesser White-fronted Goose –Annexes
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