Cape Barren Goose
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| ?Cape Barren Goose Conservation status: Least concern |
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| Cereopsis novaehollandiae Latham, 1801 |
The Cape Barren Goose, Cereopsis novaehollandiae, is a large goose resident in southern Australia. Cereopsis means wax-like and refers to the waxy yellow-green beak cover.
A previous decline in numbers appears to have been reversed as birds in the east at least have adapted to feeding on agricultural land. The breeding areas are grassy islands off the Australian coast, where this species nests on the ground in colonies.
These are bulky geese and their almost uniformly grey plumage, bearing rounded black spots, is unique. The tail and flight feathers are blackish and the legs are orange. The short, decurved black bill and green cere gives it a very peculiar expression.
The Cape Barren Goose is 75-100 cm long, and has a 150-190 cm wingspan; males are somewhat larger than females. The male weighs on average 5.29 kg and the female 3.77 kg.
This bird feeds by grazing and rarely swims. It is gregarious outside the breeding season, when it wanders more widely, forming small flocks.
It bears captivity well, breeding in confinement. Some of this species' peculiarities were believed to have been still more exaggerated in an extinct bird that was described from bones and referred to as the New Zealand Cape Barren Goose, Cereopsis novaezeelandiae. Among the first portions of this bird that were found were the tibia, which presented an extraordinary development of the patella. However, C. novaezealandiae has been resolved to be a specimen of C. novaehollandiae, with the peculiar bones that were once referred to it belonging to an extinct New Zealand Goose (Cnemiornis).
In Western Australia, early explorers in the nineteenth century named islands 'Goose Island' due to their presence there.
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2004). Cereopsis novaehollandiae. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- Wildfowl by Madge and Burn, ISBN 0-7470-2201-1
