The Barnacle Goose

The Barnacle Goose, a distinctive, handsome black-and-white bird, gets its name from a mediaeval myth that the birds hatched from barnacles how else to explain their sudden appearance each autumn in northern Britain? We now know, of course, that the birds migrate from Arctic Russia, Norway and Svalbard to winter throughout northern Europe. This book represents a culmination of more than 25 years of Barnacle Goose research. It represents the story of one of Europes most celebrated long-term behavioral studies, detailing the lives of these social and sociable birds. Chapters include sections on pair formation and bonding, family and population dynamics, brood parasitism, food and feeding, size and shape in different populations, life cycle, survivorship, dispersal, migration, and conservation, with particular regard to climate change. It is a rigorous and thorough examination of the lives of these birds, in fine Poyser tradition.

The Hawaiian Goose

Dr Janet Kear, Assistant Director of the Wildfowl Trust and Curator of its Martin Mere Reserve, and Professor Andrew Berger of the University of Hawaii, have written a timely and absorbing account of the recent history of the Hawaiian Goose, or Nene, its descent to near extinction, its eleventh hour rescue and current restoration to the wild. The species declined from an estimated population of 25,000 in Hawaii in the 18th century to less than fifty birds in the 1940s. Today, thanks largely to the extended breeding programmes at Slimbridge and Pohakuloa, there are probably more than 2000 Hawaiian Geese in the world. The achievement is justly applauded and well-known, but whether this impressive experiment in conservation has been truly successful will not be clear until it becomes evident that the released birds can maintain a breeding population in the wild. As the authors explain, the outcome is far from predictable. The causes which led to the species' decline and the hazards and difficulties faced by the reintroduced population are discussed at length, but the core of the book is the propagation programmes at Slimbridge and Pohakuloa, and the problems and successes they brought during many years of patient work. For the conservationist and aviculturist the accounts of captive breeding under headings such as infertility, diet, longevity, mortality and the effects of foster mothers, geographical latitude and genetic strain, will be essential reading. Appropriately, Sir Peter Scott, whose interest and involvement in the rescue of the Hawaiian Goose was of prime importance, is one of the artists whose drawings supplement the text. There is also a colour frontispiece and 24 monochrome plates.

This unique title evaluates the results from one of the most significant long-term studies of birds in the late twentieth century. The authors evaluate the working of natural selection on Snow Goose plumage colour, seasonal timing of breeding, clutch size, egg size and body size. With information gathered over 26 years on 40,000 individually marked adult geese, 45,000 nests and more than 110,000 goslings at one colony in northern Manitoba, this work is a landmark in avian biology and population genetics.

Publisher : Batsford Ltd; First Edition (1 Nov. 1980)

• Language : English
• Hardcover : 236 pages
• ISBN-10 : 0713408316
• ISBN-13 : 978-0713408317

Wintering: A Season With Geese

The new season begins. The geese return... Selected as a NATURE BOOK OF THE YEAR by The Times
The arrival of huge flocks of geese in the UK is one of the most evocative and powerful harbingers of winter; a vast natural phenomenon to capture the imagination. So Stephen Rutt found when he moved to Dumfries one autumn, coinciding with the migration of thousands of pink-footed geese who spend their winter in the Firth. Thus began an extraordinary odyssey.
From his new surroundings in the north to the wide open spaces of his childhood home in the south, Stephen traces the lives and habits of the most common species of goose in the UK and explores the place they have in our culture, our history and, occasionally, on our festive table.
Wintering takes you on a vivid tour of the in between landscapes the geese inhabit, celebrating the short days, varied weathers and long nights of the season during which we share our home with these large, startling, garrulous and cooperative birds.

Praise for Wintering:

"A poignant testament to how we can find peace in the rhythms of the natural world." - The Times, Nature Books of the Year 2019

The Snow Geese (Picador Classic)

Shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize and winner of the Hawthornden Prize.
I had attached myself to the birds. I couldn't move on until the birds moved on, and the birds couldn't move on without the spring.
One winter, after an enforced period of recuperation, William Fiennes finds himself restless and yearning for adventure. He travels to Texas, where he begins a quest to trace the million-strong flocks of snow geese making their spring flight thousands of miles north to the Arctic tundra. On his epic journey he meets people from every walk of life, from ex-nuns to train fanatics, and their stories resound with the longing to arrive at the right place in the world.
Shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize and winner of the Hawthornden Prize, The Snow Geese is a poignant and lyrical paean to the richness and wonder of the world around us. A unique blend of autobiography, travel and nature writing, this is a classic tale of belonging and the inescapable lure of home.

The flock of greylag geese established by Konrad Lorenz in Austria in 1973 has become an influential model animal system and one of the few worldwide with complete life-history data spanning several decades. Based on the unique records of nearly 1000 free-living greylag geese, this is a synthesis of more than twenty years of behavioural research. It provides a comprehensive overview of a complex bird society, placing it in an evolutionary framework and drawing on a range of approaches, including behavioural (personality, aggression, pair bonding and clan formation), physiological, cognitive and genetic. With contributions from leading researchers, the chapters provide valuable insight into historic and recent research on the social behaviour of geese. All aspects of goose and bird sociality are discussed in the context of parallels with mammalian social organisation, making this a fascinating resource for anyone interested in integrative approaches to vertebrate social systems.

In range, Wild Geese covers the geese of North America, Europe and Asia, and thus the world species except for the Hawaiian Goose or Ne-Ne. The plan of the book is similar to the author's Ducks of Britain and Europe but distribution, status and migration rightly assume a more extensive role in Wild Geese and the detailed text on those subjects is fully complemented by migration and distribution maps. Comprehensive chapters are also devoted to classification, ecology, breeding, identification, and to exploitation and conservation. The identification chapter is especially helpful with sections on adult and first winter birds, downy young, plumage variants and voice, for each species and sub-species, as well as guidance on ageing and sexing geese in the field. The text is effectively supported by 16 identification plates in colour by Carol Ogilvie, showing details of heads and bills as well as all species in flight and on the ground, and downy young. The author is an established authority on ducks and geese and has been a research scientist at the Wildfowl Trust, Slimbridge, England, since 1960

Search for the Blue Goose:

Between 1923 and 1931, J. Dewey Soper traversed 50,000 km of Arctic wilderness in search of the nesting grounds of the legendary 'blue goose.' He kept extensive diaries of his travels and left behind an impressive collection of Arctic watercolours. Beautifully illustrated in colour.

The Giant Canada Goose

The first edition of "The Giant Canada Goose "summarized the history and rediscovery of a supposedly extinct subspecies of Canada goose the locally nesting goose familiar to the early farmers and naturalists of the Midwest and eastern plains. In this edition, Harold C. Hanson brings us up-to-date. Goose expert Hanson recounted in the first edition what we then knew about the biology of this regional social population of the giant Canada goose, which now numbers over a million as a result of federal and state restoration programs. In fact, in many areas, the non migrational population is sufficiently numerous to be regarded as a pest, especially in suburban areas.

This book is an introduction to the barnacle goose, describing its characteristics, populations and distribution. It outlines the year of the barnacle goose as it migrates long distances between its breeding and wintering areas, using staging posts on the way.

Product details

• ASIN : B0000CIOVW
• Publisher : Collins; First Edition (1 Jan. 1953)
• Hardcover : 240 pages

Wild geese and Eskimos: A journal of the Perry River

Product details

• ASIN : B0000CI40O
• Publisher : Country Life; Scribner; First Edition (1 Jan. 1951)
• Language : English
• Hardcover : 254 pages
• ISBN-10 : 111131098X
• ISBN-13 : 978-1111310981

Sir Peter Scott

Goose Populations of the Western Palaearctic

This work reviews the status, trends, distribution, ecology, conservation and management of 23 populations of geese breeding and wintering in the Western Palearctic. It synthesises monitoring data and research results compiled by the Goose Specialist Group of Wetlands International since the 1950s.

90 paintings depict many aspects of the birds' behaviour and show them in an array of weather conditions. The artist describes his approach to painting from life, shares accounts of memorable days spent watching geese and explains much of the birds' behaviour. This knowledge represents hundreds of hours of field observation.

This Audio CD, A Wild Goose Chase in Galloway with Angus Hogg and Ken Jackson on the trail of wild geese in the south-west of Scotland. Includes visits to the RSPB reserve at Mersehead and the WWT at Caelaverock, Dumfries and Galloway. Species covered are greylag, pinkfeet, greenland, whitefront, bean, brent, bamacle and Canada geese, with 'guest appearances' of other wildfowl and wader.

Bewick's Swan

The arrival of thousands of Bewick's Swans from their Arctic
breeding grounds to lakes and wetlands throughout northern and eastern
Britain is an unforgettable sight. Popular among both birders and the
wider public, these elegant birds are among the best-studied waterfowl
in the world. Beginning with the work of the late Sir Peter Scott in
the 1950s, Britain's Bewick's have been the subject of intensive
behavioural study, while their population ecology has provided a
similar focus for research. In Bewick's Swan, Eileen Rees tells
the story of these birds in rich detail. Rees discusses their biology
in full, with sections on population and distribution, breeding
biology, wintering behaviour, food and feeding ecology, taxonomy and
phylogeny, migration, and conservation; much original research is
included, and there is frequent reference to the Bewick's sibling
subspecies, the Tundra Swan of North America. Personal recollections
from a lifetime of study weave through the narrative, which is
illuminated by Dafila Scott's evocative illustrations.

The Mute Swan

Describes the history, habitat, and range of swans in Britain, explains why there is a decline in their population, and looks at their behaviour and life cycle.

• Publisher : Helm; First Edition (1 Jan. 1986)
• Language : English
• Hardcover : 176 pages
• ISBN-10 : 0709932596
• ISBN-13 : 978-0709932598
• Dimensions : 15.2 x 0.1 x 23.4 cm

Product details

• ASIN : B0006AVQ98
• Publisher : Cleaver-Hume Press; First Edition (1 Jan. 1957)
• Language : English
• Hardcover : 133 pages

Product details

• Publisher : Imprint unknown; First Edition (1 Dec. 1985)
• Language : English
• Hardcover : 64 pages
• ISBN-10 : 0905868161
• ISBN-13 : 978-0905868165

Swans of the World: In Nature, History, Myth and Art

Publisher : Council Oak Books (1 Oct. 1998)

• Language : English
• Hardcover : 196 pages
• ISBN-10 : 0933031815
• ISBN-13 : 978-0933031814
• Dimensions : 21.5 x 0.77 x 26 cm

The Whooper Swan

The Whooper Swan has the most extensive range of all the world's seven swan species, and to people in many nations it is the archetypical swan species. The species is also strongly migratory, and the annual appearances of bulging" flocks of these beautiful white birds herald seasonal change and have inspired numerus myths and tales. Taking an in-depth look at the Whooper Swan, this book investigates its biology, migratory habits, courtship and breeding behaviour and its role in the folklore and legend of the many countries where it occurs."

Swans of World 

Product details

• Publisher : Parkwest Publications (1 Aug. 1979)
• Language : English
• ISBN-10 : 0800875230
• ISBN-13 : 978-0800875237

The swans

Product details

• ASIN : B001KUN1NM
• Language : English
• Hardcover : 242 pages

peter Scott

Swan (Encounters in the Wild)

 "An utter delight" - Jennifer Tetlow. In the Encounters in the Wild series, renowned nature writer Jim Crumley gets up close and personal with British wildlife - here, the swan. With his inimitable passion and vision, Jim relives memorable encounters with some of our best-loved native species, offering intimate insights into their extraordinary lives.

The Swan: A Natural History

Stunning photographs illustrate our new natural history of the swan, this much-loved creature of beauty and grace. Professional photographer Malcolm Schuyl has studied the swan for decades observing, researching and photographing it throughout its life-cycle. His lively and inspirational book covers the swan in all its stages: * natural history and behaviour: bathing, preening, moulting, sleeping * breeding and courtship: mating, nesting, incubation, hatching * raising their young * swan domestication and uses throughout history * the swan in literature, myth, music, superstition * swan conservation and their future A book to delight and educate.

This book begins dramatically - a flight of eight mute swans occupying the entire width of the second floor level of a busy street in the centre of Edinburgh, bringing traffic to a halt. In England all mute swans belong to the Crown - in Scotland they are wild and of three varieties - the mute, the whooper swan and the Bewick swan. The author of this book has observed them all - the mute pair on a man-made pond that successfully raises eight cygnets year in and year out, the pair which valliantly tried three times to rear their young on a remote Highland loch, only to lose even the sole survivor and the gathering of 3000 whoopers on Loch Eyre in 1989 when there was unprecedented pondweed growth. The author also discusses swans in folklore and in literature and the need for severe penal legislation to outlaw the appalling things that are perpetuated on swans by certain members of the human race. Jim Crumley is the author of "The Royal Mile".

The seven species of swans are an easily and universally recognized group of waterfowl, which have historically played important roles in the folklore, myths and legends in many cultures. Among the largest of all flying birds, they have been used as symbols of royalty, grace and beauty, and largely for these reasons swans have only rarely been considered acceptable as targets for sport hunting. Swans occur on all continents but Africa, though most species are found in the temperate and arctic zones of North America and Eurasia. Swans are a long-lived species and are among the most strongly monogamous of birds, having prolonged pair and family bonds that influence their flocking and social behaviour, and contribute to the overall high degree of human interest in them. This volume describes their distributions, ecology, social behaviour, and breeding biology. Included are nine distribution maps, 19 drawings, 23 photographs by the author, and a bibliography of nearly 700 references.