Bar-headed Goose

About the Bar-headed Goose

The bar-headed goose (Anser indicus) is a goose that breeds in Central Asia in colonies of thousands near mountain lakes and winters in South Asia, as far south as peninsular India. It lays three to eight eggs at a time in a ground nest. It is known for the extreme altitudes it reaches when migrating across the Himalayas.

The bar-headed goose is basal in the grey goose genus Anser. The genus Anser has only one other member indigenous to the Indian region (greylag goose of the subspecies Anser anser rubrirostris, which also winters in the region), and none to the Ethiopian, Australian, or Neotropical regions. Ludwig Reichenbach placed the bar-headed goose in the monotypic genus Eulabeia in 1852, though other authorities treat both Eulabeia and the genus Chen as synonyms of Anser.

The bird is pale grey and is easily distinguished from any of the other grey geese of the genus Anser by the black bars on its otherwise white head. It is also much paler than the other geese in this genus. In flight, its call is a typical goose honking. A mid-sized goose, it measures 71–76 cm (28–30 in) in total length and weighs 1.87–3.2 kg (4.1–7.1 lb).

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