Bar-headed goose

Bar-headed goose

Description

The bar-headed goose is a slim, pale grey goose about 71–76 cm long and weighing roughly 2–3 kg. It is unmistakable thanks to its white head crossed by two black bars on the nape, which give the bird its name. The bill and legs are orange-yellow, and the flanks are marked with delicate grey-and-white barring. Its call is a soft, nasal honk that carries far across open country.

Habitat

It breeds on high-altitude lakes, marshes and rivers across Central Asia – on the Tibetan Plateau and in Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan and neighbouring parts of China and India, often above 4,000 metres. For the winter it migrates to the lowlands of South Asia, mainly India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, where it gathers on lakes, rivers and flooded fields.

Diet

The bar-headed goose is almost entirely herbivorous. It grazes on grasses, sedges and other green plants, takes aquatic vegetation from the water, and on its wintering grounds feeds on barley, rice and fresh shoots in flooded fields. Its short, strong bill also lets it pull up roots and tubers.

Reproduction

It nests colonially on the ground close to water, often on islands that are safe from predators. The female usually lays 3–8 eggs and incubates them for about 27–30 days. Both parents care for the newly hatched goslings, and the family stays together until the young can fly.

Lifespan

In the wild the bar-headed goose usually lives around 10–15 years, while in human care, with plenty of food and safety, it can reach more than 20 years.

Did you know?

The bar-headed goose is one of the highest-flying birds in the world: on migration it crosses the ridges of the Himalayas and has been recorded above 7,000 metres, where the air is so thin that most birds could not even take off. It manages this thanks to a special form of haemoglobin that binds oxygen far more efficiently than in other geese.