A brown goose with a white patch at the bill. It occurs across the Northern Hemisphere and gathers in wetlands and fields in winter.
Adults have brown bodies, white feathers around the bill, and a thin white line along the flanks. Young birds have less white around the bill and fewer dark belly marks.
Wintering greater white-fronted geese have separate places for resting and feeding. At Lake Izunuma-Uchinuma in Miyagi, Japan, they roost on the lakes at night and feed on fallen rice grains and other foods in surrounding fields by day. Of 110 recorded feeding flocks, 103 were in rice fields within 12 km of the roost.
On five survey dates between November 1997 and January 1999, observers watched movements from before sunrise and searched the rice fields during the day. In 35 cases, departing flocks were linked to flocks in what appeared to be their first feeding fields. The mean distance was 5.2 km. Even the first morning feeding destination could involve a flight of several kilometres. Flocks dispersed across the rice-growing area and picked up food remaining on the ground.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
Around Miyajimanuma in Hokkaido, continued farming and measures addressing wetland drying and excessive nutrients help retain wetlands and rice fields needed by greater white-fronted geese. Japan’s Ministry of the Environment describes activities by the Miyajimanuma Project Team, led mainly by local farmers, including flooding rice fields in winter.