barnacle goose

American  

noun

1. a wild goose, Branta leucopsis, of northern Europe and Greenland.

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barnacle goose British  

noun

1. a N European goose, Branta leucopsis , that has a black-and-white head and body and grey wings

2. a former name for brent goose

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Etymology

Origin of barnacle goose

1760–70; earlier barnacle, Middle English bernacle; compare Middle French bernacle, New Latin bernacula, all derivative of earlier Middle English bernak, bernekke, Anglo-Latin bernaca, Old French bernaque, of uncertain origin

Example Sentences

Heikkinen won the award for her photo of a snarling young red fox as it tries to keep the remains of a barnacle goose for itself.

From The Verge

Studies have demonstrated that bar-headed geese have more capillaries around individual cells in their pectoral muscles than barnacle geese and other related species that don’t fly at such high altitudes.

From New York Times

The researchers added that barnacle geese had shifted their migratory route on their journey from the UK to their breeding grounds on Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago, within the last 25 years.

From BBC

The barnacle geese change their behavior, increasing airspeed and skipping the avian rest stops that they ordinarily use to fuel their travel and to fatten themselves up for the weeks of egg-laying ahead.

From New York Times

In barnacle geese, their offspring get catapulted off a cliff and a lot of them die.

From Washington Post