Ecology
Nesting is often on cliffs close to glaciers to provide protection from mammalian predators (mainly Arctic Fox), also on islets in lakes. Three to six eggs are laid in early to mid May in Iceland, late May in Svalbard, with incubation lasting 26–27 days. On hatching, the goslings accompany the parents on foot to the learest lake, where they fledge after about 56 days. Southbound migration is from mid September to early October, and northbound from mid April to early May.
The diet is almost entirely vegetarian. In summer, they feed on a wide range of tundra plants, both on land and in water. In winter, they graze primarily on oilseed rape, sugar beet, potato, and various grasses; damage to crops can be extensive, though their grazing can also benefit particularly sugar beet and potato farmers by gleaning leaves and roots left behind after the crop is harvested, reducing the transmission of crop diseases from one year to the next.
Read more about this topic: Pink-footed Goose
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“... the fundamental principles of ecology govern our lives wherever we live, and ... we must wake up to this fact or be lost.”
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