View source for Bean goose

{{Short description|Species complex of birds}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}}{{Taxobox
| name = Bean goose
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref =<ref name=IUCN>{{cite iucn | author= BirdLife International | author-link= BirdLife International |year= 2018 |title= ''Anser fabalis'' |page= e.T22679875A132302864 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22679875A132302864.en | access-date= 4 December 2023}}</ref>
| image = Bean.goose.600pix.jpg
| image_caption = [[Taiga bean goose]] (''A. fabalis'') at [[Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Centre]], [[Gloucestershire]], England
| image2 = AnserFabalisIUCNver2019 1.png
| regnum = [[Animal]]ia
| phylum = [[Chordate|Chordata]]
| classis = [[bird|Aves]]
| ordo = [[Anseriformes]]
| familia = [[Anatidae]]
| subfamilia = [[Anserinae]]
| tribus = [[Anserini]]
| genus = ''[[Anser (genus)|Anser]]''
| genus_authority = [[Mathurin Jacques Brisson|Brisson]], 1760
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision =
*[[Taiga bean goose]] (''Anser fabalis'')
*[[Tundra bean goose]] (''Anser serrirostris'')
*[[Pink-footed goose]] (''Anser brachyrhynchus'') 
}}

The '''bean goose''' is a [[species complex]] of [[goose]] that breeds in northern [[Europe]] and [[Palearctic|Eurosiberia]]. It has at least two distinct varieties, one inhabiting [[taiga]] habitats and one inhabiting [[tundra]]. These are recognised as separate species by the [[American Ornithologists' Union]] and the [[International Ornithologists' Union|IOC]] ([[taiga bean goose]], ''Anser fabalis'', and [[tundra bean goose]], ''Anser serrirostris''), but are considered a single species by other authorities, such as the [[British Ornithologists' Union]].{{Not verified in body|date=August 2024}} The related [[pink-footed goose]] (''Anser brachyrhynchus'') has also been included in the species complex. It is [[bird migration|migratory]] and winters further south in Europe and Asia.

== Description ==
The length ranges from {{convert|68|to(-)|90|cm|in|abbr=on}}, wingspan from {{convert|140|to(-)|174|cm|in|abbr=on}} and weight from {{convert|1.7|–|4|kg|lbs|abbr=on}}.<ref name=CRC/> In the [[nominate subspecies]], males average {{convert|3.2|kg|lb|abbr=on}} and females average {{convert|2.84|kg|lb|abbr=on}}.<ref name=CRC/> The bill is black at the base and tip, with an orange band across the middle; the legs and feet are also bright orange.

The upper wing-coverts are dark brown, as in the [[white-fronted goose]] (''Anser albifrons'') and the [[lesser white-fronted goose]] (''A. erythropus''), but differing from these in having narrow white fringes to the feathers.

The voice is a loud honking, higher pitched in the smaller subspecies.

The closely related [[pink-footed goose]] (''A. brachyrhynchus'') has the bill short, bright pink in the middle, and the feet also pink, the upper wing-coverts being nearly of the same bluish-grey as in the [[greylag goose]]. In size and bill structure, it is very similar to ''Anser fabalis rossicus'', and in the past was often treated as a sixth subspecies of bean goose.

== Reproduction ==
Bean goose mate for life, and they usually select their mates in the second winter of their lives. Bean goose use courtship to find mates, including a display of tail feathers. Once they chose their mates, they get together, put their heads close together, and sing to each other. This usually happens when a male chases off another male. This is performed throughout the birds lifetime.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Clark |first=Emily |title=Anser fabalis (bean goose) |url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Anser_fabalis/ |access-date=15 May 2023 |website=Animal Diversity Web |language=en}}</ref>

They breed yearly, and raise young together. Bean geese typically lay 4 to 6 eggs which are incubated for 27 to 29 days. Bean geese reach sexual maturity at three years.<ref name=":0" />

== Taxonomy ==
The [[English language|English]] and [[binomial nomenclature|scientific names]] of the bean goose come from its habit in the past of grazing in [[bean]] field stubbles in winter. ''Anser'' is the Latin for "goose", and ''fabalis'' is derived from the Latin 
''faba'', a broad bean.<ref name= job90>{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names |url=https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher = Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 |pages =[https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n48 48], 157}}</ref>
[[File:Anser fabalis Arnoud B van den Berg.jpg|thumb|Taiga bean goose (''Anser fabalis'' sensu stricto) on background, tundra bean goose (''Anser serrirostris'') on foreground and [[greylag goose]] (''Anser anser'') on the right, at Spaarndam, North Holland, the Netherlands]]
[[File:Tundra bean goose.jpg|thumb|A flock of tundra bean geese]]
The species complex comprises the closely related [[taiga bean goose]] (''Anser fabalis'') and [[tundra bean goose]] (''Anser serrirostris''). Together, they contain five [[subspecies]], with complex variation in body size and bill size and pattern. Generally, size increases from north to south and from west to east. Some ornithologists (including AOU 2007) split them into two species based on breeding habitat, whether in forest bogs in the subarctic [[taiga]], or on the [[arctic]] [[tundra]]. The taiga and tundra bean goose diverged about 2.5 million years ago and established secondary contact ca. 60,000 years ago, resulting in extensive gene flow.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ottenburghs|first1=Jente|last2=Honka|first2=Johanna|last3=Müskens|first3=Gerard J. D. M.|last4=Ellegren|first4=Hans|date=26 May 2020|title=Recent introgression between Taiga Bean Goose and Tundra Bean Goose results in a largely homogeneous landscape of genetic differentiation|journal=Heredity|volume=125|issue=1–2|pages=73–84|doi=10.1038/s41437-020-0322-z|pmid=32451423|pmc=7413267|issn=1365-2540|doi-access=free}}</ref> Their subspecies have been treated by some authors as all belonging to a single species, ''Anser fabalis''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Honka |first1=Johanna |last2=Kvist |first2=Laura |last3=Heikkinen |first3=Marja E. |last4=Helle |first4=Pekka |last5=Searle |first5=Jeremy B. |last6=Aspi |first6=Jouni |date=February 2017 |title=Determining the subspecies composition of bean goose harvests in Finland using genetic methods |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10344-017-1077-6 |journal=European Journal of Wildlife Research |language=en |volume=63 |issue=1 |page=19 |doi=10.1007/s10344-017-1077-6 |bibcode=2017EJWR...63...19H |issn=1612-4642}}</ref> The related [[pink-footed goose]] (''Anser brachyrhynchus'') has also been included in the species complex, with a 2023 study recovering it as the sister taxon to ''A. fabalis'', and ''A. serrirostris'' as the sister taxon to the two of them.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ottenburghs |first1=Jente |last2=Honka |first2=Johanna |last3=Heikkinen |first3=Marja E. |last4=Madsen |first4=Jesper |last5=Müskens |first5=Gerhard J. D. M. |last6=Ellegren |first6=Hans |date=2023-01-19 |title=Highly differentiated loci resolve phylogenetic relationships in the Bean Goose complex |journal=BMC Ecology and Evolution |volume=23 |pages=2 |doi=10.1186/s12862-023-02103-3 |doi-access=free |issn=2730-7182 |pmc=9854053 |pmid=36658479}}</ref> The complex has included several contested species including [[Sushkin's goose]] (''Anser neglectus'').{{cn|date=September 2024}}

'''Taiga bean goose (''Anser fabalis'' sensu stricto) ([[John Latham (ornithologist)|Latham]], 1787)'''
{{Unreferenced section|date=August 2024}}
* ''A. f. fabalis'' (Latham, 1787). Scandinavia east to the Urals. Large; bill long and narrow, with broad orange band. ''Anser fabalis fabalis'' is one of the species to which the ''Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds'' ([[AEWA]]) applies.
* ''A. f. johanseni'' ([[Jean Théodore Delacour|Delacour]], 1951). [[West Siberian taiga]]. Large; bill long and narrow, with narrow orange band.
* ''A. f. middendorffii'' ([[Nikolai Severtzov|Severtzov]], 1873). [[East Siberian taiga]]. Very large; bill long and stout, with narrow orange band.
'''Tundra bean goose (''Anser serrirostris'', if treated as a distinct species) ([[John Gould|Gould]], 1852)'''
{{Unreferenced section|date=August 2024}}
* ''A. s. rossicus'' ([[Sergei Aleksandrovich Buturlin|Buturlin]], 1933). Northern Russian tundra east to the Taimyr Peninsula. Small; bill short and stubby, with narrow orange band. ''Anser fabalis rossicus'' is one of the species to which the ''Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds'' ([[AEWA]]) applies.
* ''A. s. serrirostris'' (Gould, 1852). East Siberian tundra. Large; bill long and stout, with narrow orange band.

== Distribution ==
[[File:Anser fabalis MWNH 0943.JPG|thumb|Egg, Collection [[Museum Wiesbaden]]]]
{{Expand section|date=April 2011}}
The bean goose is a rare winter visitor to [[Great Britain|Britain]]. There are two regular wintering flocks of taiga bean goose, in the [[Yare Valley]], [[Norfolk]] and the [[Avon Valley, Scotland|Avon Valley]], Scotland. A formerly regular flock in [[Dumfries and Galloway]] no longer occurs there. The tundra bean goose has no regular wintering sites, but is found in small groups among other [[grey goose]] species – among the most regular localities are [[WWT Slimbridge]], [[Gloucestershire]] and [[Holkham Marshes]], Norfolk.

The Taiga bean geese ''Anser fabalis fabalis'' wintering in Europe are considered to migrate across three different flyways: Western, Central and Eastern; which has been confirmed by stable isotope analysis of their flight feathers.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Fox, A. D. |author2=Hobson, K. A. |author3=de Jong, A. |author4=Kardynal, K. J.  | author5=Koehler, G.  | author6=Heinicke, T. | year=2017| title=Flyway population delineation in Taiga Bean Geese ''Anser fabalis fabalis'' revealed by multi-element feather stable isotope analysis| journal=Ibis| volume=159| pages=66–75| doi=10.1111/ibi.12417| issue=1}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name=CRC>{{cite book |title=CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses |editor-first=John B. Jr. |editor-last=Dunning |publisher=CRC Press |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-8493-4258-5}}</ref>
}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal |last1=Sangster |first1=George |author-link1=George Sangster |last2=Oreel |first2=Gerald J. |year=1996 |title=Progress in taxonomy of Taiga and Tundra Bean Geese |journal=[[Dutch Birding]] |volume=18 |issue=6 |pages=310–316}}
* {{cite journal |last=Oates |first=John |year=1997 |title=Identification of Taiga Bean Goose and Tundra Bean Goose |journal=[[Birding World]] |volume=10 |issue=11 |pages=421–426}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Ruokonen |first1=M. |first2=K. |last2=Litvin |first3=T. |last3=Aarvak |year=2008 |title=Taxonomy of the bean goose – pink-footed goose |journal=[[Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution]] |volume=48 |issue=2 |pages=554–562 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2008.04.038 |pmid=18550388|bibcode=2008MolPE..48..554R }}
* {{cite journal |last=Brown |first=Dan |year=2010 |title=Identification and taxonomy of bean geese |journal=[[Birding World]] |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=110–121}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Anser fabalis}}
{{Wikispecies|Anser fabalis}}
* [http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/b/beangoose/index.asp RSPB Birds by Name – Bean Goose]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20170704035541/http://birdguides.com/species/species.asp?sp=027018 BirdGuides Bean Goose Page]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20030114004644/http://cyberbirding.uib.no/photo/a_fabalis_01.php Cyberbirding: Bean Goose pictures]
* {{BirdLife|22679875|Anser fabalis}}
* {{Avibase|1365719670879|Anser fabalis}}
* {{InternetBirdCollection|bean-goose-anser-fabalis}}
* {{IUCN_Map|22679875|Anser fabalis}}
* {{Xeno-canto species|Anser|fabalis|Taiga Bean goose}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q26452}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Anser (bird)|Bean Goose]]
[[Category:Geese]]
[[Category:Birds of Asia]]
[[Category:Birds of Pakistan]]
[[Category:Birds of Europe]]
[[Category:Birds of the Middle East]]
[[Category:Birds of Japan]]
[[Category:Natural monuments of Japan]]