Barnacle goose

The barnacle goose, Branta leucopsis, is a medium-sized waterfowl of the family Anatidae in the genus Branta, first classified by Johann Matthaus Bechstein in 1803. It measures 55 to 70 centimeters long with a wingspan of 120 to 145 centimeters and weighs 1.21 to 2.23 kilograms, with a white face, black head, neck and upper breast, a white belly, silver-grey wings and back barred in black and white, black legs and a small stubby black bill; a rare leucistic form with white plumage and black markings also occurs. Five distinct populations breed and winter across different ranges, from eastern Greenland wintering in Scotland and Ireland, through Iceland, Svalbard wintering at the Solway Firth, Russian Arctic birds wintering in the Wadden Sea, and a Baltic and North Sea population established since 1971. Its closest genetic relative is the cackling goose, and medieval folklore mistakenly held that the birds hatched from goose barnacles, a belief that persisted into the 18th century; the species is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, with populations and breeding ranges increasing in recent decades.