Anser cygnoides, African Goose

Watertravel and Waterside Destinations masthead

-Lower Rhine

-- Nijmegen

-- Kleve

-- Kalkar

-- Xanten

-- Kranenburg

-- Kevelaer

-- Moyland

-- Wildfowl

--- Alopochen aegyptiacus

--- Anser albifrons

--- Anser anser

--- Branta leucopsis

--- Ciconia ciconia

--- Cygnus olor

--- Phasianus colchicus

--- Platalea leucorodia

-- Camping

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You have to like the “African” goose. He lumbers along, not troubling others, and is much too large to be challenged even by the feisty Egyptian. The individual shown lazily scooping lunch off the water surface lives with another one in a pond in Nijmegen. The other pictures are of an individual who lives with a few graylags near Millingerwaard. The African has been raised domestically since the late 19th century (these are probably escapees). Of vague origins evidently having nothing to do with Africa, one certainty is that they are related to the Chinese swan goose, Anser cygnoides. In German it is called Hoeckergans, probably a reference to the bump on its forehead. I’ve yet to see one fly, although they might do so if sufficiently frightened. The wings are apparently used mostly for catching a little warmth from the sun.