The Goose is Loose

Published March 15, 2012 in the UB Post 

Ornithologists and birdwatchers rejoice: Bar-headed Geese will be making their way back to the Mongolian mainland soon.

Yet another tie between the icy Buddhist peaks of the Tibet Plateau and Mongolia, the Bar-headed Geese migratory pattern sees the geese flying all the way from the furrowed brow of Russia to the lush tea gardens of India.

One of the highest flying birds in the world, Bar-headed Geese routinely fly over parts of the Himalayas during its migration. The northward migration from India is especially difficult and is carried out in stages. The geese wait until nightfall to begin the climb that lasts for hours. The Bar-headed Geese are aided in their mighty ascent by a larger than average wing area. Scientific studies have also revealed that the geese works more efficiently under low oxygen conditions, giving the geese the power to scale colossal heights and maintain equilibrium while in the air.

Not one to fly clear of controversy, Bar-headed Geese were accused of being early carriers of the H5N1 avian flu after an unexplainable outbreak in the Darkhan Valley of northern Mongolia. With no poultry farms in the area, the geese were immediately suspect and eventually proven guilty.

The mysterious outbreak in Darkhad Valley brought the attention of Ornithologists, who converged upon the region and began tagging the geese. Some of the geese tagged by the scientists were later seen in Somnathpur, India, a distance of nearly 4,780 kilometers.

The geese are now routinely collared, and sightings have continued to increase in India. The geese are a cause for celebration in India as they eat heaps of insects and other pests that can damage crops. Their droppings are an excellent fertilizer and farmer’s are known to protect the birds from hunters.

 Last year, the geese were seen in Chikmalgur, the first time the geese have been seen in the region. In February it was reported that three of the tagged geese were spotted in Nagpur, a distance of over 3,850 kilometers.

India, Mongolia, Russia and China aren’t the only place the geese like to travel. Bar-headed Geese used an ulterior pair of wings to migrate to Great Britain. Originally held in captivity, a few of the geese escaped and formed a band of feral geese. Naturally, the feral geese bred and Bar-headed Geese have been stumbling out of British pubs ever since.

While the geese are far from endangered, they have experienced a drop in numbers from over-hunting, egg collecting and habitat damage. A few conservation measures appear to be working, including the Gharana Wetland Conservation in Jammu, India. While the conservation has been in existence for some time, gun shelling and discharges from across the border usually kept the geese away. With the ceasefire of 2003, the geese immediately took to the wetlands for a little R&R.

As the Mongolian black ice melts, dust storms drift in and the spring yawns awake onto the steppe, the Bar-headed Geese will once again return to land of Chingis to breed, feed and take a breather until migration season comes.