On January 30th 2024, Gijsbert Twigt and I took a day trip to Drenthe in the eastern part of The Netherlands to observe Bean Geese. In the days leading up to our trip, there had been numerous reports of large numbers of Bean Geese arriving in the Netherlands due to the frost period. A great opportunity to go looking for a Taiga Bean Goose.
There were certainly Tundra Bean Geese. Below are some photos of ‘orange-billed’ Tundra Bean Geese.
Tundra Bean Goose with mostly orange bill. For a Taiga, the neck is too short, the forehead too steep, and the base of the lower bill too thick.
A different bird from the one before but basically the same story. Not a Taiga due to the short neck and thick bill base, both on the top and bottom.
This Tundra Bean Goose was almost entirely white. Not visible in the photo, but the head and bill match a (Tundra) Bean Goose.
The orange-billed tundras are usually fairly easy to distinguish from Taigas, but with the next bird, it was a bit more difficult.
The bill is too thick and the neck too short for a clear Taiga Bean Goose. In the field, there wasn’t much excitement. In the photo, it looks much more interesting than in the field. Maybe this is due to the low angle from which the photo was taken.
At the end of the day, we actually found a Taiga Bean Goose! Truly a clear bird:
The bird walked towards us from far back in the group. Of course, the orange bill was the first thing that stood out, but its large size and long neck mainly drew our attention. The bird was clearly larger than the present tundras. Most of the time it was the ‘tallest’ bird.
Taiga Bean Goose – Anser fabalis
Additionally, the bill is nicely orange, long, and thin. The chest is full. Long neck. Dark head and neck/chest. Thick legs. This is how they should be! There’s also a video on my Instagram:
And more photos on Waarneming.nl:
I’m curious to see how many more will follow this winter!
Invested Birding 
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