The bar-headed goose (Anser indicus) is one of the world’s highest-flying birds; it is a goose that breeds thousands of colonies near mountain lakes in Central Asia and winters in South Asia, as far south as peninsular India. The bar-headed goose flies above the Himalayan Mountains when it migrates, at heights that will reach 30,000 feet. they’re capable of flying through the passes of the very best mountains at heights of 3658 to 4267 m (12,000 to 14,000 ft) with winds that blow at speeds of over 322 kph (200 mph) and temperatures low enough to freeze exposed flesh instantly. Oxygen rates are falling by one-third at this height; even kerosene cannot burn there, and helicopters cannot fly at that altitude. It lays between three and eight eggs in a field nest at a time. The bar-headed goose has a spatula-shaped, triangular bill and the tail is bright orange with a contrasting black comb. These geese have a long neck and deep chest, and genders are identical while males are much larger and heavier than females. Their strong and continuous flight helps to produce body heat, which their down feathers maintain. While flying over mountains, this heat helps prevent ice from building up on their wings. These geese even have a special kind of hemoglobin that absorbs oxygen quicker than other birds; they’ll also extract more oxygen from each breath than other birds can. The white head is marked with a pair of U-shaped bands crossing the nape, and therefore the upper band that starts behind the eyes is thicker than the lower band. The neck is brownish-gray with a white vertical stripe down all sides. The body is grayish above and brownish below, darkest near the legs, though some minor white barring may show both above and below. Rock bottom a part of the abdomen and therefore the under tail coverts are white. The main feathers are black, with a light grey-brown tail. The dark primary and secondary feathers are forming a dense, black trailing edge to the wing during flight. The legs and webbed feet are light white, with black eyes.
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). These gooses are able to migrate over 1609 km (1,000 mi.) in a very single day. Young birds also lack the distinctive head bars, but instead have a black cap on the top. High altitude lakes are the summer home, where the bird grazes on short grass. Until crossing the Himalayas the species was recorded as migrating from Tibet, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia to the south. Such birds also form part of exotic collections of waterfowl worldwide , particularly in zoos and aviaries. Several feral colonies have been created, most notably in Spain, Belgium, and Finland, but frequent sightings of the escapees are also reported in Canada and the UK. Rare escapees are not everywhere to be found. The bar-headed goose is usually kept in captivity because it is taken into account beautiful and breeds readily. Bar-headed geese have a rather larger wing area for his or her weight than other geese, which is believed to assist them to fly at high altitudes. While this decreases the facility output required for flight in a void, birds at high altitude still have to flap harder than lowland birds. This species are primarily herbivorous and graze on a large range of plant materials, including grasses, grains, roots, stems, seeds, and berries. They’ll also eat a limited amount of mollusks, insects, small fish, and crustaceans, which meets the protein needs of their diet. They can graze on land or nibble at aquatic plants on the water surface while they are foraging. Such goose/geese are not only an integral part of the environment but are also important for science.
