Barnacle Goose Branta leucopsis Scientific name definitions

The Barnacle Goose was not named after its gustatory preferences but instead after a peculiar medieval belief that these geese hatched from goose barnacles (Lepas anserifera) in the autumn; the barnacles themselves being a fruit that fell from a tree into the sea (1 Minogue, K. (2013). Science, Superstition and the Goose Barnacle. Shorelines. Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. Close ). This led to rather serpentine debates as to whether the geese could be consumed during Lent (1 Minogue, K. (2013). Science, Superstition and the Goose Barnacle. Shorelines. Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. Close , 2 Frost, N. (2017). How Medieval Chefs Tackled Meat-Free Days. Gastro Obscura. Close ) or whether they were Kosher under Jewish law (3 Slifkin, N. (2007). Sacred Monsters. Zoo Torah/ Lambda Publishers, Brooklyn, New York, USA. Close ).

Though the elaborate medieval rumors proved untrue, the Barnacle Goose and its history are no less marvelous. This vividly attired small goose is garbed in black, white, and silvery blue gray, with a cute white face peering out from a jet black hood. During the late 1950s, the Barnacle Goose was in danger, with its world population totaling only 20,000 or so birds spread between three breeding populations: one in Greenland, one at Svalbard, Norway, and one along Russia's Barents Sea (4 Boyd, H. (1961) The number of Barnacle Geese in Europe 1959-1960. Wildfowl Trust Annual Report 12:116–124. Close , 5 Jensen, G. H., J. Madsen, S. Nagy and M. Lewis (2018). International Single Species Management Plan for the Barnacle Goose Branta leucopsis. Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds Technical Series, number 70. Close ). The low numbers were due to a crushing burden of human activities, including hunting, collecting eggs for food, and testing nuclear weapons (6 Black, J. M., J. Prop, and K. Larsson (2014). The Barnacle Goose. T & AD Poyser, London, United Kingdom. Close , 7 Kouzov, S., E. Zaynagutdinova, R. Sagitov, and A. Rychkova (2018). Nesting of Barnacle Goose (Branta leucopsis) in the Russian Part of the Gulf of Finland. Arctic 71:76–88. Close ). Fortunately, the Barnacle Goose has had an astonishing recovery thanks to the cessation of these activities and the creation of reserves. The Greenland population increased from 8,300 to approximately 72,000 birds (5 Jensen, G. H., J. Madsen, S. Nagy and M. Lewis (2018). International Single Species Management Plan for the Barnacle Goose Branta leucopsis. Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds Technical Series, number 70. Close , 8 Mitchell, C. and C. Hall (2020). Greenland barnacle geese Branta leucopsis in Britain and Ireland: results of the International census, spring 2018. Scottish Natural Heritage Research Report, Number 1154. Close ), the Svalbard population increased from 1,350 to 42,600 (5 Jensen, G. H., J. Madsen, S. Nagy and M. Lewis (2018). International Single Species Management Plan for the Barnacle Goose Branta leucopsis. Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds Technical Series, number 70. Close ), and the Russian population from about 10,000 to approximately 1.2 million (4 Boyd, H. (1961) The number of Barnacle Geese in Europe 1959-1960. Wildfowl Trust Annual Report 12:116–124. Close , 5 Jensen, G. H., J. Madsen, S. Nagy and M. Lewis (2018). International Single Species Management Plan for the Barnacle Goose Branta leucopsis. Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds Technical Series, number 70. Close ). Additionally, a new population arose in the Baltic and North Seas, currently consisting of 125,000 or so individuals (5 Jensen, G. H., J. Madsen, S. Nagy and M. Lewis (2018). International Single Species Management Plan for the Barnacle Goose Branta leucopsis. Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds Technical Series, number 70. Close ). During the winter, this mass of geese graze in marshes, pastures, and agricultural fields from Ireland to Estonia, at times leading to conflicts with farmers whose fields are sometimes decimated by these immense flocks. Fortunately, the Barnacle Goose Management Scheme has ameliorated many of these conflicts in the United Kingdom (9 Cope, D. R., R. A. Pettifor, L. R. Griffin, and J. M. Rowcliffe (2003). Integrating farming and wildlife conservation: the Barnacle Goose Management Scheme. Biological Conservation 110:113–122. Close ) and the proposed International Single Species Management Plan for the Barnacle Goose will hopefully be as successful in continental Europe (5 Jensen, G. H., J. Madsen, S. Nagy and M. Lewis (2018). International Single Species Management Plan for the Barnacle Goose Branta leucopsis. Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds Technical Series, number 70. Close ).

The Barnacle Goose belongs to the genus Branta, which diverged from the genus Anser 4.2 to 15.1 million years ago (10 Ottenburghs, J., H.-J. Megens, R. H. S. Kraus, O. Madsen, P. van Hooft, S. E. van Wieren, R. P. M. A. Crooijmans, R. C. Ydenberg, M. A. M. Groenen, and H. H. T. Prins (2016). A tree of geese: a phylogenomic perspective on the evolutionary history of True Geese. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 101:303-313. Close ). It is closely related to the Cackling Goose (Branta hutchinsii)), the Canada Goose (Branta canadensis), and the Hawaiian Goose (Branta sandvicensis), with the Barnacle Goose diverging from its nearest relative, the Cackling Goose, about 2.5 million years ago (11 Paxinos, E. E., H. F. James, S. L. Olson, M. D. Sorenson, J. Jackson,and R. C. Fleischer (2002). mtDNA from fossils reveals a radiation of Hawaiian geese recently derived from the Canada Goose (Branta canadensis). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 99(3):1399–1404. Close , 10 Ottenburghs, J., H.-J. Megens, R. H. S. Kraus, O. Madsen, P. van Hooft, S. E. van Wieren, R. P. M. A. Crooijmans, R. C. Ydenberg, M. A. M. Groenen, and H. H. T. Prins (2016). A tree of geese: a phylogenomic perspective on the evolutionary history of True Geese. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 101:303-313. Close ). Despite having populations with rather discrete breeding and wintering grounds, the Barnacle Goose has not developed subspecies or notable geographic variation, as the movement of individuals from one population to another has been sufficient to prevent divergence (6 Black, J. M., J. Prop, and K. Larsson (2014). The Barnacle Goose. T & AD Poyser, London, United Kingdom. Close ).