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 Canada Goose
 Branta canadensis

Key facts

Conservation listings: Europe: no SPEC category (favourable conservation status in Europe, not concentrated in Europe) (BiE04)
UK: not listed (introduced)
Long-term trend: UK waterways: rapid increase
Population size: 62,000 pairs in 2004-08 (APEP13)
http://www.bto.org/birdtrends2010/images/cango01MW300w.jpg

Status summary

Canada Geese were first introduced to English parkland around 1665 but have expanded hugely in range and numbers following translocations in the 1950s and 1960s. They increased rapidly, at a rate estimated at 9.3% per annum in Britain between the 1988-91 Atlas period and 2000, with no sign of any slowing in the rate of increase (Austin et al. 2007). Most of this increase, amounting to 166% during that decade alone, has been in areas previously with low goose densities. The WBS sample became large enough for annual monitoring in 1980, since when further, apparently accelerating, increase has occurred on linear waterways. Annual breeding-season monitoring in a wider range of habitats through BBS has shown similar strong increases in England and in the UK as a whole. Winter monitoring by WeBS shows a strong long-term increase, but with little change since about 2001 (Holt et al. 2012a). The economic, social and environmental impacts of rapidly expanding, non-native Canada Goose populations are of growing conservation concern across Europe.

WBS/WBBS waterways graph


Population changes in detail
Demographic trends