Bar-headed Goose

Anser indicus

Least Concern · IUCN Red List

LCLeast ConcernPlantsWetlandScrapeHuge · 2.2 kg

What the Bar-headed Goose sounds like

Sonogram of the Bar-headed Goose: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Sonothèque ADVL · Call · Arrondissement of Avranches (near Bréville-sur-Mer), Manche, Normandy, France · CC0 · via xeno-canto
Sonogram of the Bar-headed Goose: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Pascal Christe · Flight call · Lüscherz, Bern, Switzerland · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto
Sonogram of the Bar-headed Goose: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Pascal Christe · Call · Lüscherz, Bern, Switzerland · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

ID tip

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).

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Bar-headed Goose

One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is January, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Bar-headed Goose

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 42 countries with regular records, and 10 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

Recorded as a rare visitor in United States, Canada, Luxembourg, Türkiye, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Guernsey, Iceland, South Africa, Portugal.

About the Bar-headed Goose

The bar-headed goose 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.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Side by side: Bar-headed Goose vs Ross's Goose · Bar-headed Goose vs Tundra Bean Goose · Bar-headed Goose vs Taiga Bean Goose · Bar-headed Goose vs Coscoroba Swan · Bar-headed Goose vs Musk Duck · Bar-headed Goose vs Emperor Goose · Bar-headed Goose vs Swan Goose · Bar-headed Goose vs Lesser White-fronted Goose

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