Greylag Goose

Latin name : Anser, anser

Family : anatidae

Description ( photo, colour of male and female, height, shape of beak) :
Height : 75 to 90 cm Wingspan : 147 to 182 cm,  Weight : 2300 g to 3500 g
 The greylag goose is an elegant web footed bird. The whole of the plumage is greyish brown with no strong contrasts. They can have small dark marks on the belly. The stomach and the underneath of the short tail is white and grey. In flight the upper forewing is a pale ash grey. Its beak is thick and a pinkish orange in colour. The pink feet are webbed.

Reproduction :
It lays 4 to 9 eggs in April. The incubation varies from 27 to 29 days. The nest is made on the ground or  at a low level in the riverside vegetation. It is made with stalks or reeds and inside it has a mattress of down.

Diet :

It is a vegetarian bird : herbaceous aquatic or ground vegetation, roots, tubers and seeds.

Habitat:
It  inhabits marshes, lakesides with natural vegetation. In winter it looks for mild coastal sheltered places. They can also be seen on the edges of reservoirs, lakes,  estuaries  and in the undulating meadows and sloping fields.

Migration :
It migrates. This is a bird which passes through or winters. The goose nests in central and eastern Europe. Southern limit of its area of distribution: Pays Bas and Germany. It is rare in eastern Europe. Reintroduced into Belgium they can be seen in Briere, The Somme, Alsace & These birds of northern Europe winter in France ( in the south west and the land bordering the English Channel ).

Conservation  ( protected species or not ) :

The species is not protected in France

Lifespan :17 years

Cry or song ( description) :

It has a loud, raw, nasal cackle.  At the time of migration its cry is strong and high pitched.