Bar-Headed Goose

• GeneralThe highest-flying bird in the world: it crosses over Everest on migration.
• It is one of the highest-flying birds in the world: it crosses the highest peaks of the Himalaya on migration.
• It is very common in zoos and collections, from which numerous birds have escaped and now breed in the wild in several European countries.
• In the Netherlands, home to the most important naturalised population in Europe, the species is subject to population control.
• It is one of the highest-flying birds in the world: it has been GPS-tracked at more than 6,500 m crossing the Himalaya in a single push, on non-stop flights of seven hours. Its haemoglobin, with an exceptional affinity for oxygen, has been studied at crystallographic level to understand how it manages it.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)

Habitat & environment

High-altitude lakes of Tibet; rice fields in winter

Size at birth

Precocial chicks that leave the nest a day or two after hatching and fly between 50 and 60 days, although they go on depending on their parents for some time

Sexual maturity

2-3 years

Gestation / incubation

28-30 days of incubation

Litter / clutch size

4-8 eggs, in a shallow nest lined with the female's down

Sources consulted: IUCN Red List (BirdLife International 2012); SEO/BirdLife (ficha); Asturnatura; Wikipedia (Anser indicus); eBird; Latham 1790, Index Ornithologicus

Best time: Winter in Europe, when the odd escaped individual appears mixed in with flocks of greylag geese