The Plight of the Red-breasted Goose

Halfway through a long day of birding on the northern coast of Bulgaria, I found myself eating lunch along the shores of Lake Durankulak, a picturesque birding spot adjacent to the town of the same name and nestled in the corner of Bulgaria between Romania and the Black Sea. I was joined by local birder and conservationist Pavel Simeonov who runs a birding lodge in the area and was my guide for the couple of days I was spending in Northeast Bulgaria. The restaurant we were eating in was mostly abandoned that afternoon, save for a group of three men who arrived halfway through our meal. This being the Balkans where everyone knows everyone else, Pavel waved them a friendly greeting and flagged one down to speak with him. Of the ensuing conversation I, lacking in the ability to speak Bulgarian, could understand nothing. What I could tell however was that it was less of a conversation and more, perhaps, of an argument.

After the man had eventually stood up to leave, Pavel chuckled and explained that he was a hunter. In particular he has a hunter of geese, including the globally threatened red-breasted goose.

The red-breasted goose is a diminutive and visually stunning species which breeds in the far northern tundra of Russia. In the breeding season, it is most notable for its penchant for nesting close to raptors, a clever strategy to deter raids by Arctic foxes. In the fall, the geese undergo an epic migration from their Siberian breeding grounds down to the steppes and plains of Eastern Europe. Historically, they’d cross the Russian taiga before resting and refueling in Kazakhstan. They’d then make their way across Kalmykia (the Russian steppes named for the Kalmyks, Europe’s only indigenous Buddhist population), before heading south to winter west of the Caspian Sea, namely in Azerbaijan, Iran, and even Iraq. As agricultural practices around the Caspian have shifted towards cotton production however, the geese have in turn shifted to where there is more food. They now, after leaving Kazakhstan, head due west across Kalmykia and spend their winters on the Black Sea coasts of Bulgaria, Romania, and Ukraine. Most winters, thousands descend upon Durankulak where they feast in the cereal fields that surround the lake. It was to see this population that I found myself eating lunch on the shores of the lake on that unseasonably warm February day.

Red-breasted Goose Migration Path (Image by AEWA International Working Group for the Red-breasted Goose)

In his conversation with the hunter, Pavel had been trying to convince him that the local hunting association ought to ban shooting of all geese. In return, Pavel would tax the birders who hired him as a guide, and give the proceeds to the hunting association. While this might seem like a win-win, the hunter had been unimpressed and shrugged off the suggestion. When Pavel had pointed out that continuing to hunt at the current rate would leave no geese left, the hunter’s response was as disappointing as it was unsurprising: “the geese will never run out.”

Hunting of red-breasted geese is not a minor issue either. It’s increasingly being shown that it is one of the biggest threats to the long term survival of the species. While red-breasted geese are protected by law in Bulgaria, they are often accidentally killed by those hunting greater white-fronted geese, a game species the red-breasts usually mix with. Even when not directly killed, constant pressure and harrying of geese flocks by hunters discharging clouds of lead into the sky (often in violation of laws restricting from where you can hunt from) can lead to the failure of the birds to build up the proper fat stores needed for their arduous trip back to Siberia.

Hunted Red-breasted Goose (Image by: Radoslav Moldovanski)

Even when they leave their wintering grounds the geese can’t catch a break–instead, they’re pursued by hunters across the whole path of their migration. When Pavel ran a project to radio-tag red-breasted geese in Bulgaria, the first two birds tagged were both shot by hunters in Kazakhstan, neither completing even one round-trip back to Durankulak. Over the course of the entire project, a substantial portion of the tagged birds were gunned down–mostly in Kazakhstan.

All of this is simply a repetition of the same script I have heard over and over during my time in the Balkans: ignorance for conservation issues leads to effectively a free-for-all by hunters, while the government is either too corrupted, lacking in the resources, or simply lacking in the willpower to do anything about it. The now-infamous dismissal from Serbian president Aleksander Vučić when confronted about excessive hunting of European turtle-doves always springs to mind when I hear about these kinds of issues. “I don’t care about these African doves [turtle-doves],” Vučić quipped to parliament. Unfortunately, it seems no one cares much about red-breasted geese either.

With lunch finished we headed out to properly see these geese ourselves. That morning we had seen a very distant flock of geese but I was unsatisfied with such poor views for such a beautiful species. After a while of plowing through deeply rutted and muddy tracks, we eventually located the small flock of birds from earlier.

Only seven red-breasted geese were to be found around Durankulak that day. As a result of the mild winter in this part of the Balkans, the rest of the population is further north in Romania and Ukraine. This was fine by me as I was excited just to see one goose at all, but is a very small amount for a place which has recorded upwards of 50,000 before.

Red-breasted Geese

Earlier in the winter, a sizeable flock of 3,000 birds had in fact arrived at Durankulak with a group of white-fronted geese. Due to a stroke of bad luck however, the day of their arrival corresponded with the final day of hunting season and the flock was beset upon on all sides by hunters. The geese were quickly driven out over the sea where they spent the night. It is unsurprisingly that they were gone the next day, having retreated back to Romania.

As I watched the small geese flock, I saw something flash across the corner of my vision: a falcon! “SAKER!” Pavel gesticulated excitedly. The saker dove upon the geese, only pulling out at the last second as the geese burst into the air in a hail of whirring wings and high-pitched, cackling honks. A falcon hunting geese isn’t something I would have expected and was amazing to see. The unfortunate side effect was of course that the geese had scattered.

Flushed Red-breasted Geese

Despite all the other good birds we saw that afternoon, I kept thinking back to those geese, flying away out over the lake, and thinking about the herculean struggles they will face during every step of their lives.

The situation for the geese is not all gloom however. Perhaps one of the better ways to preserve the geese is in the development of ecotourism in the area. The idea, which has been implemented elsewhere, for example in response to the bushmeat trade in sub-Saharan Africa and logging in the Amazon Basin, is that an economic boost as a result of increased ecotourism will persuade poachers (or loggers, farmer, etc.) that wildlife is more valuable alive than dead. As coastal Bulgaria increases its birding infrastructure and becomes even more known as a topnotch birding destination, this approach is slowly being implemented. Perhaps the most exciting event on this front is the annual Shabla Kite Festival, a popular local event in the town just south of Durankulak. The festival is dedicated to the red-breasted goose and to raising awareness of its plight.

Of course there is a long way to go. On their migration corridor, the geese pass through a whole slew of countries of which Bulgaria is just one. In every country the geese are confronted with one problem or another. However, with luck and the hard work of Bulgarian birders, scientists, and conservationists, these geese will be foraging in the fields and wetlands of Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast for years to come.

 

More information on red-breasted goose conservation can be found (among other places) on the linked website of The Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds.