Anser albifrons - white-front goose

Watertravel and Waterside Destinations masthead

-Lower Rhine

-- Nijmegen

-- Kleve

-- Kalkar

-- Xanten

-- Kranenburg

-- Kevelaer

-- Moyland

-- Wildfowl

--- Alopochen aegyptiacus

--- Anser albifrons

--- Anser anser

--- Branta leucopsis

--- Ciconia ciconia

--- Cygnus olor

--- Phasianus colchicus

--- Platalea leucorodia

-- Camping

-- Watertravel Home Page

The German word, ‘Blaess’ or ‘Bläß,’ rhymes with ‘place’ and is identical to our word, ‘blaze,’ when used in reference to the white patch on a horse’s forehead. Instead of being called the “blaze goose,” however, we call Bläßgans the “white-fronted goose,” a direct translation of its Latin name, Anser albifrons. The Dutch name is Kolgans. Their summer breeding grounds are said to extend from Sweden all the way across the northern rim of Eurasia to Siberia. In a good winter, 160,000 of them can show up in the wetlands along the Lower Rhine. Protected in Germany, they are legally hunted in The Netherlands. Disputes along the border over the issue of hunting are said to have occured (although I’ve not witnessed any, nor very much goose hunting in Holland by my northern California standards).