Greylag Goose

The greylag goose is the type species of the genus Anser and the ancestor of most domestic goose breeds, first domesticated by at least 1360 BCE; wild and domestic birds can still interbreed. It breeds from Iceland and northern Europe eastward across Russia to northeastern China, in habitats ranging from moors and peat bogs to salt marshes, estuaries and flooded fields, feeding mainly on grasses, tubers and grain. Pairs form long-term, often lifelong bonds, and young geese learn traditional migration routes and wintering grounds by travelling with their parents in larger flocks. Once heavily reduced, some populations have rebounded sharply in recent decades; in Orkney, numbers rose from about 300 breeding pairs to roughly 64,000 birds by 2019.