36 Conservation of Lesser White-fronted Goose on the European migration route — Final report of the EU LIFE-Nature project 2005–2009 The FennoscandianLesser White-fronted Goose( 1. Introduction Adult Lesser atWhite-fronted Goose the Tana River mouth,Finnmark, Norway. ©JariPeltomäki, June2008 Lapland in2004–2008 of Lesser inFinnish Goose White-fronted andNorwegian Monitoring ofthelate springstagingsites andbreeding areas Sulkava etal:Monitoring ofthelate springstagingsites andbreeding areas ofLesser White-fronted GooseinFinnish Lapland andNorwegian in2004–2008 and habitat loss (e.g.Madsen1996; UNEP/WCMC2003; Fox considered to becausedmostof all byhighhuntingpressure pairs (Väisänen &Lehtiniemi2004). The dramaticdecline is estimate fortheFinnish breedingpopulationis0–5 confi et al.2001).Sinceacon north-eastern partsEnontekiö andUtsjokimunicipalities(Øien there wereonlyacouple ofbreedingrecordsannuallyinthe continued untilrecent days. Duringthe1980´sand1990´s decrease ofthepopulation startedfromtheearly1900´sandhas dankylä andKittilä,that aresituatedintheborealzone. The in mountainareasofthemoresouthernmunicipalities ofSo- the mainbreedingareas,butscattered alsooccurred land, themunicipalitiesofEnontekiö,Utsjoki andInariwere twentieth century(Norderhaug&Norderhaug 1984).InFin- countries wasestimatedatca10,000individuals intheearly Sweden andNorway. The breedingpopulationintheNordic in sub-arctictundraandforest-tundrazones northern Finland, ropus, hereafter LWfG) population has traditionally bred widely rmed breedingrecords inFinlandandthelatestpublished 2 1 Pekka Sulkava WWF Finland, 10,FIN-00500,FINLAND,WWF Lintulahdenkatu email:[email protected]@gmail.com , Metsähallitus, Natural Heritage Services, Lapland, Peuratie Services, Metsähallitus, NaturalHeritage 15,FIN-99400Enontekiö, FINLAND, email:[email protected] 1 , Risto Karvonen , Risto fi rmed breedingin1995thereisno 2 &Petteri Tolvanen Anser eryth- 2 the LWfG areheadingtowards thebreedingareas inthemoun- Finnish Lapland. These arethe lastspringstagingsites before Utsjoki and Könkämäeno–Lätäseno inEnontekiönorthern bers forshortperiodson themarshesalongrivers Tana in 2004). Onthespringmigration LWfG are staginginlownum- staging LWfG intheareastill2003(Kaartinen&Pynnönen the 1990’s (Tolvanen etal.1998),andthereis anobservationof parts ofFinnmarkand/or northernmostFinlanduntiltheendof was a regular autumn staging area of LWfG breeding in eastern Peninsula (see Tolvanen et al.2009). The Varangerfjord area ful breeders migrate later, also for moulting(Aarvak&Øien2003,etal. 2009).Success- ninsula, KolgujevIslandor Taimyr Peninsulainnorthern Russia grounds alreadyintheendofJuneand Øien etal.2009).Non-breedingbirdsstarttoleave thebreeding wintering areasinGreecearestillonlypartially known(see birds inthevastpotentialbreedinggrounds FinnishLapland. have beenonlyfeworganised surveysinorderto LWfG LIFE-Natureproject1997–2000(Markkola2001)there potential breeding areas annually, but since the previous Finnish 2005, Jonesetal.2008).InFinland,LWfG arestillseencloseto The migrationroutesbetweenNordicbreeding groundsand fi rst towards east to the Kanin fl y easttotheKanin Pe- fi nd breeding ish Lapland, based on available recent information and reported ally (2005–2008) atleastonepotential breeding area inFinn- breeding season, ateamofonetothree personssurveyed annu- (Enontekiö) inlateMay forcatwoweeksannually. Duringthe valley (Utsjoki)andin the Könkämäeno-LätäsenoRivervalley of thelatespringstaging siteswascarriedoutinthe Tana River ing areasbasedonearlier data,asdescribedabove.Monitoring WWF-Finland. The surveysweredirected tothemostpromis- and NorwegianLapland withhelpofvolunteersorganised by surveys ofspringstaging aswellbreedingLWfG inFinnish pland NaturalHeritage ServicesofMetsähallitusimplemented During theLWfG EULife-Natureproject(2005–2009)theLa- 2. Materialandmethods spring hasbeenobservedatthe Valdak Marshes. seen inthe Tana Rivervalleyandthatlateronduring thesame tains, butthereisalsoobservationsofLWfG thathavebeen Table ofLesser 1.Surveys andobservations inFinnish Goose White-fronted Laplandin2004–2008. andNorwegian 08Autumn, 2008 Summer, Norwegian 2008 Summer, Finnish 2008 08Srn, nnei 6My19May 16May Spring, Tana River 2008 Spring, Enontekiö 2008 Autumn, 2007 Summer, Norwegian 21May 2007 Summer, Finnish 2007 20May Spring, Tana River 2007 Spring, Enontekiö 2007 Autumn, 2006 Summer, Norwegian 2006 Summer, Finnish 2006 Spring, TanaRiver 2006 Autumn, 2005 Summer, Norwegian 2005 Summer, Finnish 2005 05Spring, TanaRiver 2005 Summer, Norwegian 2004 Autumn, Monitoring 2004 Spring, TanaRiver 2004 area Season, Year Varangerfj core breeding area Lapland valley Varangerfj core breeding area Lapland valley Varangerfj core breeding area Lapland Valley Varangerfj core breeding area Lapland Valley core breeding area Varangerfj Valley Conservation of Lesser White-fronted Goose ontheEuropean migration route —Final report of the EULIFE-Nature 2005–2 project ord ord ord ord ord 8Ag30Aug 18 Aug u 12Jun 6Jul 2 Jun 11 Jun 2Ag3Sep 22 Aug 30Aug 15 Aug 29Aug 12 Aug a 0My1 a 16May 16May 20May 6 May 16May 2July 16May 6Jul 15 Jun 5Jun 9 Jun 16 May 16May 7June 30Jul 15May 30 May 10Jun 24 Jul 22 May 31Jul not surveyed 20 Jul 19 Aug 2 Sep 2Sep 19 Aug 3My3 a 9My29May 29May 30May 13 May not surveyed 21May 11 May started ended Monitoring Sulkava etal:Monitoring ofthelate springstagingsites andbreeding areas ofLesser White-fronted GooseinFinnish Lapland andNorwegian in2004–2008 observation First the sameindividual on16May Teppanansaari, Nuvvus,Uts- valley on15–16 May2006(15 ontheSirbmafi valley on29 May2005,onesub-adult birdinthe Tana River Lapland annually: two adult birds in fl LWfG were observed atthelatespringstagingsitesinFinnish 3.1. Monitoringofthelate springstagingsites 3. Results (see e.g. Tolvanen etal.1998). was arrangedannually (2005–2008)inthe Varangerfjord area ranged annuallysincethen.Inlate August, atwo-weeksurvey 2009) in2006,andthebreedingareasurveys havebeenar- tracking conductedbytheLWfG Lifeproject(seeØienetal. the LWfG. This areawasre-locatedasaresultofthe satellite Society, organised, incooperation withtheNorwegianOrnithological recent sightings. In addition, WWF-Finland and Metsähallitus fi atosrainTtlnme Age distribution Total number Last observation eld surveysoftheNorwegian corebreeding areas of – 43 12–16adpairs 24–32 – – – – – – 4 10–14adpairs 20–28 – 3 10–11adpairs+1 ca 21–23 – 1 – – – 2 – – ight inthe Tana River 2 adpairs one fl 2 ad+1subadin subad 1 subad 2 ad ock elds and elds 009 37 38 Conservation of Lesser White-fronted Goose on the European migration route — Final report of the EU LIFE-Nature project 2005–2009 tion reasons. The mainemphasis inthesurveyswason locating exact location ofthebreedingarea is notpublishedforconserva- three rather separate loosecongregations ofbreedingpairs. The x 30km(i.e.ca600km2). Within thisarea thereappearstobe the LWfG pairs foundwerebreedingwithinanareaofca20 km sites locatedbythesatellite transmittersinthesummer2006,and The surveysoftheNorwegian corebreedingareacoveredallthe 3.2.2. Norway Bean Goose(Anserfabalis). area inFinland)sucha reportcouldbecon of LWfG werefound.Inonecase(intheKaldoaiviwilderness period andfi ing LWfG pairs/LWfG broods werereceivedduringtheproject by furtherdetailstobereliable. Also otherrumoursofbreed- in thearearecentyears. This reportcouldnotbecon area basedonanuncon a surveytripwasdirectedtotheformerFinnish corebreeding at leastuntil1995,noLWfG wereobserved.However, in2005 covering alsotheformercorebreedingareaused bytheLWfG In theannualsurveysofpotentialbreeding areasinFinland, 3.2.1. Finland 3.2. Surveysofthebreeding areas 8 individualsinKittiläon28May. in Utsjokion6May, twoindividualsinKolarion21May, and servations reportedbynon-specialistsin2007: twoindividuals four birdsfromEnontekiöinMay2006,andthreedifferent ob- LWfG werereportedinKarigasniemi(Utsjoki)May2005, ish LaplandwerereceivedintheLWfG Lifeprojectperiod:12 1). Inaddition,severaluncon in theSirbma fi joki), twoadultstogetherwithoneyoungbirdintheSirbma in the Tana River ontheborder between Finland andNorway. ©Petteri Polojärvi, May 2006 One ofthelate springstagingsites that theLesser Finnish Laplandisthe stilluseinnorthernmost Geese White-fronted Teppa Sulkava etal:Monitoring ofthelate springstagingsites andbreeding areas ofLesser White-fronted Lapland GooseinFinnish in2004–2008 andNorwegian elds, Tana Rivervalleyon16May2007,andtwoadultpairs eld surveysweredirectedaccordingly, butnosigns fi elds Tana Rivervalleyon16May2008(Table fi rmed report/rumourofaLWfG brood fi rmed LWfG observationsinFin- fi rmed toabroodof fi rmed 20 kmnorth-east oftheUtsjokivillage andtolesserextent the these sites(mainly theSirbma noscandian LWfG population, butthenumbers of LWfG visiting River Valley isapermanentlatespringstagingarea oftheFen- According totheresults ofthesurveysitseemsthat Tana 4. Discussion for theLWfG inthesouthernpartofarea. also traf 2008 survey, whenthere was stillquitealotofsnowcoverleft, torized traf reduce thedisturbance,itwouldbeimportant nottoallowmo- in 2006),becauseuseof4-wheel-drivecarswas permitted. To the disturbanceincreasedin2007(ascompared tothesituation of LWfG withinthesurveyarea. According totheobservations, the lakeshoreiscrossingoneofthreecore breedingareas LWfG breedinginthesouthernpartofarea,astrackto all-terrain vehicleswasobservedtocausedisturbance forthe there isanumberof pairs +5-7pairs)in2008. pairs +4–6pairs)in2007,and12–16 (5–6 pairs+2–3 northern partofthesurveyarea),10–14pairs (2–3pairs+4–5 pairs inthesouthernpart+3middle part +3–4inthe 2006–2008 (Table 1).In2006,10-11 pairswereobserved(4 tance fromsuitableelevatedpointswithgood view. The mainsurveymethodwasobservingbytelescopeatlongdis- LWfG andnottoapproachtheLWfG andtheirneststooclose. Extreme cautionwasexercisedinthesurveysnottodisturb levels ofpossiblepredatorssuchastheRedFox(Vulpes vulpes). from humanactivitiesandreindeerherding,thepopulation tential threatsforLWfG inthearea,especiallydisturbance the mostimportantsitesforLWfG, andonassessingthepo- There isalakeinthesouthernpartofarea, and bythelake In thesurveys,10–16breedingpairswerefound annuallyin fi c bysnowscooterswasobserved tocausedisturbance fi c inthearea beforeLWfG broodsare fi shing huts. Traf fi fi elds on theNorwegianside, ca c toandfromthelakeby fl edged. Inthe nansaari islet gian corebreedingareahasimprovedsigni Lehtiniemi 2004)stillvalid. Finnish populationestimateof0–5breedingpairs(Väisänen& confi ish breedingareas,andalsoontheregularlyreceivedbutun- observations inlatespringclosetopotential/historicalFinn- Thanks areduetoallthebirdwatchersthatcarried outthesur- 5. Acknowledgements gone extinct. Skjåholmen island)untiltheendof1990’s hasmostlikely of thepopulationthatusedtostageinthisarea (especiallythe fjord areain2004–2008,anditcanbeconcluded thatthepart surveys inthetraditionalautumnstagingarea inthe Varanger- importance fortheLWfG. of theRedFox(Vulpes vulpes al. 2009)forfurtherdetails. Also, annualandeffective control cessful breedingseasonforthewholepopulation(seeØienet This relatesalsotothenew for thecriticallyendangeredFennoscandianLWfG population. other humandisturbanceintheareamaybeaseriousthreat occurrences inthearea,andstressedthatoff-road traf nature managementauthoritieswithallthedataonLWfG However, theLWfG LifeprojecthasprovidedtheNorwegian of themanagementthishighlyvaluableareaaregivenhere. For conservationreasonsnosite-relateddetailsorproposals (2006) andthesubsequentannual LWfG Lifeproject,thankstotheresultsofsatellitetracking extremely dif the potentialbreedingareasinmountainarevastand side didnotresultinobservationsofLWfG. Ontheotherhand ansaari issituatedca65kmsouth-eastofthe Valdak Marshes. is situatedca100kmeastofthe Valdak Marshes,and Teppan- Valdak Marshes,PorsangenFjord,Finnmark,Norway. Sirbma Tana Rivervalley, andlaterthesamespring(18–31May)at was however, oneobservationofacolourringedadultLWfG that eas eitherontheNorwegianorFinnishside.In1999therewas, assumed thattheyarebreedinginthesurroundingmountainar- not known,butbasedonthelatespringobservationdatesitis species. The breedingareasoftheLWfG visitingthesesitesare are alsoknownasregularspringstagingsitesofothergoose of theKarigasniemivillage)areverylow. Bothofthesesites Teppanansaari islandontheFinnishside,ca45kmnorth-east Aalto, Pirkka veys and/orreportedtheirsightings,especially: Ari Aalto, Esa Fox, A.D. 2005: Lesser White-fronted Goose Fox, A.D. Anser erythropus. Aarvak, T. &Øien,I.J.2003:Moultandautumnmigration 6. 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