Greylag Goose Call MP3s
Europe's classic grey goose demands a classic sound — deep, resonant honks that carry across stubble fields and wetlands.
Also known as
Recordings (5)
About this species
Around 82 cm in length, the Greylag Goose (Anser anser) is a large grazing goose of the Anatidae family: a bulky grey goose with a stout orange bill and pink legs, ancestor of the farmyard goose. It grazes wet meadows, marshes and arable fields, roosting on open water.
The deep, resonant honking of skeins is one of the great sounds of the winter sky. It grazes grass and clover and gleans spilt grain and potatoes from harvested fields. Intensely social, it travels and feeds in large, vocal flocks and roosts communally. Its skeins, long woven into continental folklore and hunting tradition, are among the great spectacles of the European winter.
Legal use
The Greylag Goose is one of Europe's most widespread and commonly hunted geese, listed among the species that may be harvested under the EU Birds Directive and regulated as ordinary game across countries including the UK (Schedule 2, Wildlife and Countryside Act, with a standard open season of 1 September to 31 January, or 20 February below the high-water mark), Scandinavia, and much of continental Europe, reflecting a population that has grown substantially in recent decades in most of its range. It is not typically hunted in North America. Note that local exceptions exist even where the species is broadly huntable — for example, some populations have faced tightened restrictions in parts of its range in response to local declines — so exact seasons, bag limits, and licensing requirements vary by country and even by region within a country. Consult our full country-by-country disclaimer before hunting.