Tens of thousands of geese now staying in Estonian fields and polders
Photos and text Margus Ots
Translation Liis
From the wintering areas in western Europe the first flocks, mainly consisting of greater white-fronted geese and bean geese reached Estonia already in March. The geese, heading for their breeding areas in the tundras of Russia, stay in Estonia at most until the end of April-beginning of May; in mid-May they already leave for the breeding grounds. In the second half of May only a few left behind can be seen.
The geese stay in particularly great numbers around Tartu, where nearly 25 000 geese are spending the night at the Aardla lake. Of those more than 85% are greater white-fronted geese, the remainder mainly bean geese.
