What to Know About the Egyptian Goose in Uganda?

The Egyptian goose in Uganda is one of the African birds of Uganda seen during Uganda birding safaris & Tours. It is affiliated to the duck, goose and Anatidae family, Kingdom-Animalia, Phylum-Chordata, Clave-Aves, species A. aegyptia and order-Anseriformes.

The Egyptian goose was a very popular bird to the ancient Egyptians who considered it as a bleed bird and the would put it in most of their artwork and they could even domesticate them.

It is quite a large bird with the length between 71-73cm, wingspan is about 135-155cm while the weight of a mature Egyptian goose ranges between 1500-2250g.

The Egyptian bird is such a strong bird which can live up to 25 years.

How Does the Egyptian Goose of Uganda Look Like?

Both the male and female Egyptian goose are similar except that the males are a bit larger than the female.

The wings of mature birds are mostly white however when the Egyptian goose is at rest, the wing coverts veil the white feathers, the white plumage can be seen when its frightened, and therefore the Egyptian goose has become aggressive or it is flying away.

The head, neck, chest and belly are buffy-grey. A dusky ring surrounds the eye starting from the beak while another chocolate stripe surrounds the neck.

The tail is dark while the scapulars are brown-like. It has a pink bill and legs, and its eyes are brown.

How Does the Egyptian Goose Sing and Make Calls?

The sexes of Egyptian geese can easily be identified when they are singing and making calls. The male has a croaky, dark-like quack and rarely sound unless they are provoked or sometimes when it is breeding, trying to display courtship to the female, it can be heard beeping like a horn.

The females have a very noisy and harsh quack that usually sound in violence, when provoked while attending her young ones, a female Egyptian goose can be heard uttering rough-harsh cackle “honk-haah-haah”.

How Does the Egyptian Goose Feed?

Egyptian goose travel to breeding areas in darkness, they feed for a good time although not for the whole night.

They feed mostly on foliage, leaves, grains, and many vegetables including insects like locusts and worms. The Egyptian goose forage by floating on water and occasionally diving the head into water.

How Does the Egyptian Goose Nest?

Egyptian goose does not build permanent areas for nesting, they sometimes nest in nests abandoned by other bird species, holes in old trees around water bodies, they can nest in trees, or down on the ground.

If they build a nest especially at the end of a dry season, the build with leaves and grasses lined with feathers from the female`s breast.

How Does the Egyptian Goose in Uganda Breed?

Breeding of Egyptian goose frequently occurs when at the beginning of a rainy season. Egyptian geese are very monogamous birds which make pair bonds once and for life.

A breeding pair is very defensive against intruders in its nesting ground, they aggressively engage intruders even up to the air and fight them.

How Does the Egyptian Goose Reproduce?

The female Egyptian geese lay between five to eleven in very high trees, the intention is to prevent the hatched chicks from leaving the nest, the female incubates for bout 28-30 days.

Both parents feed and care for the chicks. Fledging runs up to about 60-75 days from hatching. The chicks still stay with their parents for more time.

When the parents realis the chicks can fly, the go down on the ground and call the chicks to come down. This is intended to train the young ones how to jump.