Only goose drops

While Anouk sings songs about birds falling off the roof top in Eurovision 2013, thunder clouds are surrounding Haapsalu, a coastal resort city in Estonia. Fieldwork is constrained by pressing heat (30 C) during midday hours, which makes working in mosquito-infested agricultural fields a true nightmare. When coming back in later, cooler hours, just when clouds release their burden, we discover fields of gold (I mean geese). Yellow sun rays are reflected on white flanks of the barnacle geese. When the birds shake their wings, a spray of raindrops fires around them. When the thunder sounds they get restless and launch in unity with thousands to get to safer inland fields.

Since Wednesday I have company of a colleague who can apply his camera man skills but also gains new abilities like counting goose poo and walking through hazardous mosquito clouds without complaining. He is doing a great job until so far! Our faces, arms and legs are swollen and speckled. Rain clouds are welcomed and cheered upon because rain is better than stinging clouds from hell. Our new rain boots enable us to walk through water!

We are here for geese, although after measuring plenty of grass plots we sometimes forget about that. Nevertheless, after a hard and hot day of work, we were surprised by a grand natural light show yesterday evening. First we had to rescue the car from mud roads when thunder clouds started to fall down. Then we discovered the fields of gold, emphasized by a complete double rainbow and breath taking sun rays and rain curtains.

Geese are still around in massive numbers, although many flew northward in the eve of May 13th. We document where they are, but more importantly, where they are not. Chattering sounds ensure us that our study animals are still in proximity, and we are often surprised by their sudden, startling panic flights when eagles or other flying objects trigger a disturbance.

We will still be around for 10 days, documenting grass lengths and goose behaviour. Documenting the beauty of the Estonian coastline, with pen, paper, and plenty of cameras.

Ilus Eesti

In Estonia, everything starts to sprout, grow, flower, and smile! I am here to continue my Ph. D. research project, which is focused on the question: why are barnacle geese changing their spring migration strategies?

Transforming from old to young in Estonian spring! - Haapsalu

Before jumping right in the world of geese, I'd like to solve some confusion. Barnacle geese (brandganzen) are NOT brown! They are different than the most common Dutch goose (grauwe gans, greylag goose):

Grauwe gans (Anser anser) en geen brandgans (Branta leucopsis)

Barnacle geese (brandganzen) are black and white like zebras:

Brandgans (Branta leucopsis)

Do not confuse them with burning greylag geese,these are neither brandganzen:

Tricky goose: brandende gans

Barnacle geese are beautiful black and white geese that now stay one month longer in their wintering habitat (Netherlands and other areas) than they used to before the mid 1990s. This is a nuisance for Dutch farmers that earn money with grass, because the longer geese stay, the more damage they cause. Furthermore, the barnacle goose population has grown exponentially since the 1960s.

Barnacle geese in Workum

Barnacle geese at Marken

Barnacle geese at Marken

In Estonia, geese arrive later but leave around the same date as they always did. Many things have changed for geese: they lost natural habitat, they adapted to cultivated grassland, they started breeding at unusual sites, and their old enemy, the white-tailed sea eagle, is spreading its home range to the west. I will investigate how barnacle geese use their habitat  in Estonia. Cutting grass, drying grass, counting poo, and observing geese will be part of the job. I will visit several sites with different characteristics and try to identify patterns from what geese do. What are they afraid of? Why do they feed in some areas, but not in others? 

Without saying too much more, enjoy the photos and stay tuned!

Barnacles flee from white-tailed sea eagle

Barnacles leave for dinner

Barnacle bomb

Cascades

If you wonder what keeps me so quiet all these months, I have an answer for you. I'm thinking. Thinking of how to catch the world and transform it into easy understandable formulas. However, the world is slippery, global and moving at a speed of 107278.87 km/h* around the Sun. So that's why the thinking part takes so long.

 

Our daytrip to Brackendale on Dec 30th was breath-taking

Nevertheless, I have some ideas. They are more concentrated around two kinds of flying objects: eagels and geese. I added a more sessile being to the equation, to make it more interesting. It has to do with my origin too. It's called: eelgrass.

Short eared owl at Boundary Bay

What if we can find that the returning eagle does not only disturb waterfowl in his shadow, but also increases grass growth? What if eagles increase their own foraging opportunities by chasing geese? It may not be its intention, but it happens all the same.

Summer goose, Stanley Park, July 2012

 I see eagles chasing geese all the time, but catching them hardly happens. Can you follow my train of thoughts? Eagles disturb geese from their feeding grounds, enabling eelgrass to restore from constant grazing damage. Denser eelgrass beds will appear, which will offer more hiding places for newborn fish. These fish grow to become large eagle prey, enriching prey availability for eagles.

Eagle taking a break from tourists, Brackendale, December 30th

What is needed to test these thoughts? A model, a tree of chances, or a rake? Can we analyse footsteps by following the tide, and fly over waves with microsatellites? If helicopters disturb feeding geese, can we use these as tools to simulate eagle wings? Disturbance is just a branch on the tree. We need collections of faeces, snails and fish, we gather data of eelgrass and feathers. But all these facts on a pile cannot make our vision clear. We need statistics and algebra, maybe a marinde shifting stable states from biologist to mathematician. Do I hear you laugh? I laugh with you.

Try to analyze the landscape of fear. Estonia, April 2012

Does the same occur on the other side of the Atlantic? I shift through continents in my mind, but going there in a physical state is less economic. Can we reproduce what happens on the other side of the world, without going there? That only makes sense in the mind of a desk-biologist, but I push away that idea completely. We need real observations of life.

These salmon eating eagles don't need to perform a wild goose chase. Brackendale, December 30th

So what’s the effect of eagles on eelgrass?

It sounds like a poem if I am honest. And it makes total sense for a Volendammer to focus on eels, if not on grass.

Snowy owls are back at Boundary Bay. November 2012

*source: http://geography.about.com/od/learnabouttheearth/a/earthspeed.htm