In the austral summer, the attractively plumaged Ruddy-headed Goose is confined to southernmost Argentina and Chile, in northern Tierra del Fuego and southern Santa Cruz province, and the Falkland Islands. The mainland population is now tiny, and perhaps numbers just a few hundred birds, at least some of which move north in winter, as far north as Buenos Aires province. Those on the Falklands are resident. Numbers in South America have declined drastically in the last five decades, largely through active persecution, the result of the Argentine’s government decision in the 1960s to list this goose as an agricultural pest. Fortunately, a few tens of thousands of pairs persist on the Falklands. The Ruddy-headed Goose occurs in open country, such as grassland and meadows, often with other geese. It feeds on roots, leaves, stems and seed-heads, and the species nests between late September and early November on the Falklands, but later on the mainland.