Wintering geese of northwestern Black Sea coasts: results of coordinated monitoring 2017–2022

Article Sidebar

PDF Supporting Materials PDF
Published: Nov 14, 2023
Keywords:
Anser albifrons, Branta ruficollis, conservation, count data, Greater White-fronted Goose, Red-breasted Goose

Main Article Content

Mihail Iliev
Emil Todorov
Ivan Russev
Georgi Popgeorgiev
Anthony D. Fox
Nicky Petkov

Abstract

Northwestern Black Sea coasts support globally important numbers of wintering geese, especially Red-breasted Geese (RBG) Branta ruficollis but also large numbers of Greater White-fronted Geese (GWFG) Anser albifrons and regionally important Greylag Geese (GG) Anser anser. Despite good national mid-winter waterbird counts within Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine, until recently there were no internationally coordinated counts at other times of the winter. Here, we present coordinated monthly count data from November to February in five recent winters (2017/18–2021/22) from the three countries, collected under a LIFE programme project to support RBG conservation. Mean annual maximum winter counts were 385,363 GWFG (range = 207,655–530,100), 20,919 RBG (13,741–26,834) and 9,728 GG (4,059–13,971) from standardised counts at the same sites throughout the region. Romania supported an overall mean of 77.3% of all GWFG from any one total count in all winter months, 65–95% in all years except for the mild winter of 2018/2019. Romania also contributed 66.3% of all RBG (range = 27%–92%) counted during coordinated international counts. Peak numbers of GWFG tended to occur in Romania in December, but corresponding increases in Bulgaria in January 2019 were the only suggestion of within-winter westward movements. Peak numbers of RBG in all winters generally were counted from January onwards, but again there were no clear patterns of consistent between-country movements in the course of the winter. These data provide a vital baseline for assessing the effects of recent warfare in the region on the distribution and abundance of these critical goose populations, and underline the need for long-term coordinated monitoring over as large an area and as many wetlands as possible in future, in order to understand their long-term trends and the factors affecting them. Such data are also essential to support planning of effective conservation measures and better inform planning issues, such as those posed by wind turbine development occurring throughout the region.

Article Details

How to Cite
Iliev, M., Todorov, E., Russev, I., Popgeorgiev, G., Fox, A. D., & Petkov, N. (2023). Wintering geese of northwestern Black Sea coasts: results of coordinated monitoring 2017–2022. Wildfowl, 73, 101–117. Retrieved from https://tidsskrift.dk/Wildfowl/article/view/156391
Issue
Vol. 73 (2023): Wildfowl 73
Section
Standard Papers

Articles in Wildfowl volumes 1-74 and in Wildfowl Special Issues 1-7  are not licensed under Creative Commons. In these volumes, all rights are reserved to the authors of the articles respectively.

The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (which published the journal from 1948–2020 inclusive) retains a royalty-free license in perpetuity to access and use pre-2021 issues for the purposes of research, which may involve sharing with research partners from time to time.

The copyright for this paper belongs to the Author(s). Papers published in Wildfowl 75 (in 2025) and subsequent issues are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

In the articles published in these volumes, all rights are reserved to the authors of the articles respectively. This implies that readers can download, read, and link to the articles, but they cannot republish the articles. Authors can upload their articles into an institutional repository.

References

Aarvak T., Øien, I.J. & Nagy, S. 1996. The Lesser White-fronted Goose monitoring program. Annual Report 1996 & NOF Raportserie Report 7: 18–21.

Alphéraky, S. 1905. The Geese of Europe and Asia. Being the Description of Most of the Old World Species. Rowland Ward, London, UK.

Andryushchenko, Y.A., Chernichko, I.I., Arsievich, N.G. & Oleynik, D.S. 2003. Rezultaty srednezimnih uchotov ptits na Sivashe v 2001 godu. Branta 6: 173–178. [In Russian.]

Andryushchenko, Y.O., Gavilenko, V.S., Kostiushyn, V.A., Kucherenko, V.N., Mezinov, A.S., Petrovich, Z.O., Redinov, K.A., Rusev, I.T. & Yakovlev, M.V. 2019. Current status of Anserinae wintering in Azov-Black Sea region of Ukraine. Vestnik Zoologii 54: 297–312.

Anonymous. 2022a. Physical Geography of Ukraine, Grade 8: §20. Main Indicators of Climate and Seasons. Available at: https://geomap.com.ua/en-g8/873.html (last accessed 23 February 2023).

Anonymous. 2022b. European Mean Daily Temperatures: January. Available at: https:// imgur.com/a/wbsFqUG (last accessed 23 February 2023).

BirdLife International. 2022. BirdLife International Data Zone: Red-breasted Goose Branta ruficollis. BirdLife International, Cambridge, UK. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/red-breasted-goose-branta-ruficollis/text (last accessed 23 February 2023).

Cranswick, P.A., Raducescu, L., Hilton G.M. & Petkov, N. 2012. International Single Species Action Plan for the Conservation of the Red-breasted Goose (Branta ruficollis). AEWA Technical Series No. 46. African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement, Bonn, Germany.

Cuthbert, R.J., Aarvak, T., Boros, E., Eskelin, T., Fedorenko, V., Karvonen, R., Kovalenko, A., Lehikoinen, S., Petkov, N., Szilágy, A., Tar, J., Timonen, S., Timoshenko, A., Zhadan, K. & Zuban, I. 2018. Estimating the autumn staging abundance of migratory goose species in northern Kazakhstan. Wildfowl 68: 44–69.

Dereliev, S. 2000. Results from the Monitoring of the Wintering Geese in the Region of Durankulak and Shabla Lakes in the Period 1995–2000. Technical Report on the Bulgarian-Swiss Biodiversity Conservation Programme. Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds, Sofia, Bulgaria.

Dereliev, S., Hulea, D., Ivanov, B., Sutherland, W.J. & Summers, R.W. 2000. The numbers and distribution of Red-breasted Geese Brantaruficollis at winter roosts in Romania and Bulgaria. Acta Ornithologica 35: 63–66.

Dijksen, A.J., Lebret, T., Ouweneel, G.L. & Philippona, J. 1973. Ornithological observations on the lagoons of the Dobrogea, Rumania, in autumn and winter of 1969, 1970 and 1971. Ardea 61: 159–178.

DMEER. 2015. DMEER: Digital Map of European Ecological Regions. European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity, European Environment Agency, Copenhagen, Denmark. Available at https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/figures/dmeer-digital-map-of-european-ecological-regions (last accessed 23 February 2023).

Dombrowski, R. von. 1912. Ornis Romaniae. Staatsdriickerei. Bucarest, Romania.

Fox, A.D. & Leafloor, J.O. (eds.). 2018. A Global Audit of the Status and Trends of Arctic and Northern Hemisphere Goose Populations (Component 2: Population Accounts). Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna International Secretariat, Akureyri, Iceland. Available at https://www.caff.is/assessment-series/459-a-global-audit-of-the-status-and-trends-of-arctic-and-northern-hemisphere-goose/download (last accessed 23 February 2023).

Iliev, M. & Petkov, N. 2015. Results of the Monitoring of Wintering Geese in Coastal Dobrudzha in the Period 2010–2015. Report to European Commission on project LIFE/NAT/BG000230 Conservation of the Wintering Population of the Globally Threatened Red-breasted Goose (Branta ruficollis) in Bulgaria. Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds/BirdLife Bulgaria, Sofia, Bulgaria.

Iliev, M., Todorov, E., Russev, I. & Petkov, N. 2018. Monitoring of Wintering Geese Along the Western Black Sea Coast (2017–2018). Report to European Commission on project LIFE/ NAT/BG/000847 Conservation of the Red-breasted Goose along the Global Flyway. Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds/BirdLife Bulgaria, Sofia, Bulgaria.

Iliev, M., Todorov, E., Russev, I. & Petkov, N. 2020. Monitoring of Wintering Geese Along the Western Black Sea Coast (2018–2020). Report to European Commission on project LIFE/ NAT/BG/000847 Conservation of the Red-breasted Goose along the Global Flyway. Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds/BirdLife Bulgaria, Sofia, Bulgaria.

Iliev, M., Todorov, E., Russev, I. & Petkov, N. 2022. Monitoring of Wintering Geese Along the Western Black Sea Coast (2020–2022). Report to European Commission on project LIFE/NAT/BG/000847 Conservation of the Red-breasted Goose along the Global Flyway. Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds/BirdLife Bulgaria, Sofia, Bulgaria.

IUCN. 2022. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2022-2. International Union for Conservation of Nature, Gland, Switzerland. Available at https://www.iucnredlist.org (last accessed 23 February 2023).

Ivanov, B.E. & Pomakov, V.A. 1983. Wintering of the red-breasted goose (Branta ruficollis). Aquila 90: 29–34.

Johnson, A.R. & Biber, O. 1971. IWRB Goose Working Group Mission to Eastern Europe December 1970. Unpubl. report from Station Biologique de la Tour du Valet, Arles, France.

Johnson, A. & Hafner, H. 1970. Winter wildfowl counts in south-east Europe and western Turkey. Wildfowl 21: 22–36.

Kostadinova, I. & Dereliev, S. 2001. Results from the Mid-Winter Counts of Waterbirds in Bulgaria for the Period 1997–2001. Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds Conservation Series Book 3. Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds, Sofia, Bulgaria.

Kostiushyn, V., Andryushchenko, Y., Goradze, I., Abuladze, A., Mamuchadze, J. & Erciyas, K. 2011. Wintering Waterbird Census in the Azov–Black Sea Coastal Wetlands of Ukraine, Georgia and Turkey. Report of the Wetlands International Black Sea Programme. Wetlands International, Kyiv, Ukraine. Available at https://piskulka.net/pages/sortedlit.php?page=3&litSearch=winter&litType=%%&litLang=%%&litYear=%%&litPdf=&litSort= (last accessed 23 February 2023).

Michev, T., Nankinov, D., Ivanov, I. & Pomakov, V. 1983. Midwinter numbers of wild geese in Bulgaria. Aquila 90: 45–54.

Michev, T.M., Pomakov, V.A., Nankinov, D., Ivanov, B.E. & Profirof, L. 1991. A short note on wild geese in Bulgaria during the period 1977 to 1989. Ardea 79: 167–168.

Munteanu, D., Weber, P., Szabó, J., Gogu-Bogdan, M. & Marinov, M., 1991. A note on the present status of geese in Romania. Ardea 79: 164–166.

Nagy, S. & Langendoen, T. 2020. Flyway Trend Analyses Based on Data from the African- Eurasian Waterbird Census from the Period of 1967–2018. Online Publication. Wetlands International, Wageningen, the Netherlands. Available at: http://iwc.wetlands.org/index.php/aewatrends8 (last accessed 23 February 2023).

Rozenfeld S. 2011. The number of Red-breasted Goose (Branta ruficollis) and Lesser White-fronted Goose (Anser erythropus) on the migration routes in 2010. Goose Bulletin 12: 8–15.

Rozenfeld, S., Timoshenko, A. & Vilkov, V. 2012. The results of goose counts on the North Kazakhstan stopover site in autumn 2012. Casarca 15: 164–176.

Scott, P. 1970. Redbreasts in Romania. Wildfowl 21: 37–41.

Sutherland, W.J. & Crockford, N.J. 1993. Factors affecting the feeding distribution of red-breasted geese Branta ruficollis wintering in Romania. Biological Conservation 63: 61– 65.

Talpeanu, M. 1963. Anseriformes of Romania. Proceedings of the European Meeting on Wildfowl Conservation, St. Andrews, Scotland 1: 45–49.

Tolvanen P. & Pynnonen, P. 1998. Monitoring the autumn migration of Lesser White-fronted geese (Anser erythropus) and other geese in N-W Kazakhstan in October 1996. Fennoscandian Lesser White-fronted Goose conservation project. Annual report 1997. WWF Finland Report 9: 19–20.

Tolvanen P., Litvin, K.E. & Lampila, P. 1999. Monitoring the autumn staging of Lesser White-fronted geese in N-W Kazakhstan. October 1998. – Fennoscandian Lesser White-fronted Goose conservation project. Annual report 1998. WWF Finland Report 10 & NOF Raportserie Report N 1-1999: 42–46.

Tolvanen P., Eskelin, T., Aarvak, T., Eichhorn, G., Øien, I.J. & Gurtovaya, E. 2000. Monitoring the autumn staging of Lesser White-fronted geese in Kazakhstan, October 1999. Fennoscandian Lesser White-fronted Goose conservation project. Annual report 1999. WWF Finland Report 12 & NOF Raportserie Report 1: 43–50.

United States Department of Agriculture. 2022a. Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus – Crop Production Maps: Wheat 2016–2020. USDA, Washington DC, USA. Available at: https://ipad.fas.usda.gov/rssiws/al/crop_production_maps/Ukraine/Ukraine_wheat.jpg (last accessed 23 February 2023).

United States Department of Agriculture. 2022b. Europe – Crop Production Maps: Wheat 2016–2020. USDA, Washington DC, USA. Available at: https://ipad.fas.usda.gov/rssiws/al/crop_production_maps/Europe/EU_Wheat.png (last accessed 23 February 2023).

Veen, J., Brouwer, J., Atkinson, P., Bilgin, C., Blew, J., Eksiogv lu, S., Hoffmann, M., Nardelli, R., Spina, F., Tendi, C. & Delany, S. 2007. Ornithological Data Relevant to the Spread of Avian Influenza in Europe (Phase 2): Further Identification and First Field Assessment of Higher Risk Species. Wetlands International, Wageningen, the Netherlands.

Vinokurov, A.A. 1977. The Red-breasted Goose on Taimyr. In V.G. Krivenko (ed.), Fauna and Biology of Anseriformes, pp. 69–71. Nauka, Moscow, Russia. [In Russian.]

Vinokurov, A.A. 1992. Rare and Endangered Animals: Birds. Vusshaya Shkola, Moscow, Russia. [In Russian.]

Wetlands International. 2023. Waterbirds Populations Portal Red-breasted Goose. Wetlands International, Wageningen, the Netherlands. Available at: https://wpp.wetlands.org/explore/387/2078?conservation=1 (last accessed 23 February 2023).