Wildlife Watching Wednesday: The Exotic Egyptian Goose

By: Tom Berg

Most people would think they need to go to Africa to see an Egyptian goose.  And at one time, that would be true.  The Egyptian goose is native to Africa, especially east Africa and southern Africa.  Like many other species, though, these birds have been widely introduced in Europe and in some places in the United States.

Egyptian geese can be identified by their mostly white head, with a bold reddish-brown patch around their orange eyes.  They have grayish-white under-plumage, with light brown backs and white forewings.  Their tail is black and they have bright pink legs.  These geese actually vary quite a bit in color, so some individuals can look much more gray or white than others nearby.

The Egyptian goose has local populations which have become established in many places in the USA – especially in Florida, California, Arkansas, Nebraska and Texas.  That makes them an exotic species, for sure.  They are at home in many of our warmer climates, wherever there is plenty of water and vegetation for them to eat.  Lakes, ponds, wetlands and even meadows near water all attract these birds.

Although they mostly eat plant matter like grasses, flowers, shoots and leaves of low-growing plants, Egyptian geese also eat grains like corn, wheat, barley and oats.  Other seeds like grass seeds and weed seeds are eaten regularly, too.  They also eat plenty of aquatic grasses and plants while foraging in the water.  On land, they occasionally eat ants, beetles and other insects that they find in the grass.

Populations of Egyptian geese in the United States are not yet large enough to cause widespread damage to agricultural crops, but in Africa these geese often gather in the thousands and they cause significant damage to farmer’s crops.  Hopefully they will not become a big problem here in our country.

A fun fact about Egyptian geese, at least in their native Africa, is that they sometimes land on the backs of hippopotamuses, waiting for the hippos to stir up large clumps of moss and other plant matter from the bottom that they can eat.

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