Bean Goose

The Bean Goose is a widespread Eurasian breeder occurring in two recognized forms, often treated as separate groups: a longer-billed taiga-breeding form and a shorter-billed tundra-breeding form. Both are darker and more uniformly colored than most other gray geese, wintering on farmland and wetlands across temperate Europe and Asia.

Body feathers are dark brown, narrowly fringed with buff, giving a subtler scaling pattern than the coarser barring of the Greylag Goose and lacking the pale forewing panel of that species. Unlike the Pink-footed Goose, the head is not noticeably darker than the body, appearing more uniformly brown throughout. The bill is black with an orange band whose extent varies by population, and legs are orange rather than pink. Bill length and shape differ between the taiga form (longer, more evenly proportioned) and the tundra form (shorter, more triangular).

Sexes look alike. Juveniles are duller with less distinct pale fringing. Molt follows the typical goose pattern, with flightless adults replacing flight feathers on the breeding grounds in summer.

The taiga form breeds in forest bogs and wet clearings across the Siberian and Scandinavian taiga; the tundra form breeds further north on open tundra. Both winter on farmland, wetlands, and grassland across temperate Europe and Asia.

Grazes on grain stubble, grass, and marsh vegetation, often forming mixed flocks with other geese on shared wintering grounds. Nests on the ground, in forest bogs for the taiga form or open tundra for the tundra form. Gives deep, resonant honking calls typical of gray geese, used in flight and while foraging in flocks.