Handsome and distinctive. A rather compact and fairly small goose with big white face patch, silvery upperparts, and black neck and breast sharply demarcated from white belly. Breeds mainly in Greenland, Iceland, and Spitsbergen, and locally around the Baltic Sea. Winters in farmland and grassy wetlands mainly in coastal lowlands throughout northern Europe. Free flying feral birds resident locally at lakes and parks in the U.K. In main wintering areas, occurs in hundreds or even thousands; elsewhere, singles and family groups can be found among flocks of other geese. Rare but increasing visitor to northeastern North America, almost always with flocks of Canada Geese.