Barnacle goose

It lays one clutch per year of 4.5 eggs, which are incubated for 24.5 days, and reaches sexual maturity at 2 years. The barnacle goose is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.

Weight

1.59 kg – 1.79 kgsrc for Weight

Length

Not recorded

Wingspan

1.08 msrc for Wingspan

Lifespan

26.9 yearssrc for Lifespan

Diet

Herbivoresrc for Diet

Longest recorded lifespan

28.2 years

Main food

Not recorded

Habitat

grasslandsrc for Habitat

Egg incubation

24.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation

Young per litter or clutch

4.5src for Young per litter or clutch

Age at maturity

2 yearssrc for Age at maturity

Litters or clutches a year

1src for Litters or clutches a year

Lifestyle

Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle

Migration

Migratorysrc for Migration

Conservation status

Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status

Countries on record

Not recorded

Not recorded

The barnacle goose is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

1. LCLeast Concern
2. NTNear Threatened
3. VUVulnerable
4. ENEndangered
5. CRCritically Endangered
6. EWExtinct in the Wild
7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

1. kingdomAnimalia
2. phylumChordata
3. classAves
4. orderAnseriformes
5. familyAnatidae
6. genusBranta
7. SpeciesBranta leucopsis (Bechstein, 1803)

Synonyms Anas leucopsis

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

LC, Least Concern

Canada goose

Branta canadensis

Anatidae

VU, Vulnerable

Red-breasted goose

Branta ruficollis

Anatidae

LC, Least Concern

Brant

Branta bernicla

Anatidae

NT, Near Threatened

Nene

Branta sandvicensis

Anatidae

LC, Least Concern

Cackling goose

Branta hutchinsii

Anatidae

B

Branta dickeyi

AnatidaeNo free photo yet

CompareBarnacle goose vs Canada gooseBarnacle goose vs Red-breasted gooseBarnacle goose vs BrantBarnacle goose vs Nene

• An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
  Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
• AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
  Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7
• Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
  Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
• Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
  Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
• Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
• Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

@misc{barnacle_goose_2026,
  title = {Barnacle goose (Branta leucopsis)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/barnacle-goose},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}