News and Updates

The bar-headed Goose’

It is one of the world’s highest-flying birds, having been heard flying across Mount Makalu – the fifth highest mountain on earth at 8,481 m (27,825 ft) – and apparently seen over Mount Everest – 8,848 m (29,029 ft).

A tracking study has revealed the secrets of the world’s highest bird migration – the Himalayan flight of 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.

The species has been reported as migrating south from Tibet, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia before crossing the Himalaya.

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 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).

To add to the damage caused because of ‘Uttarayan‘, The Bar headed goose had also has been admitted in our hospital as its been suffering from injury in both wings and also has one of its leg broken. It is at our hospital under treatment and is on its way to a speedy recovery!