The Greater White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons) is a medium-sized grey goose, 65–78 cm long with a wingspan of 130–160 cm and a weight of 1.8–3.2 kg. Adults are identified by the white patch at the base of the bill — the "front" that gives the species its name — and by irregular black barring across an otherwise grey-brown belly; the bill is orange and the legs orange-yellow. Young birds lack both the white face patch and the black belly bars, which can make them harder to separate from the Bean Goose, and in flight the species looks relatively dark and compact.
It is a vocal goose, its call a ringing, bright, somewhat laughing "kyo-lyok" or "li-lyok", noticeably higher-pitched and more musical than the Greylag Goose's coarse cackling. In Sweden it occurs chiefly as a passage migrant, with flocks resting in farmland, on coastal meadows and at wetlands, often alongside Bean Geese and other grey geese; important staging sites are found in Skåne, on Öland and at Hornborgasjön, with peak numbers in March–April and October–November, and the numbers of resting birds have grown into the tens of thousands. The species does not breed in Sweden but on the Arctic tundra, where it nests on the ground and the female lays 4–6 eggs; family groups stay together through migration, with young birds accompanying their parents the whole way to and from the wintering grounds. An avowed plant-eater, during its Swedish stopovers it grazes on grass, ley crops, waste grain and young winter cereal shoots in large, systematically moving flocks.
Read about this species in Swedish →