Friday 16 February 2018

Bar Headed Geese spotted at the Basai Wetland

Copyright Rodrick Rajive Lal
Bar-Headed Geese Spotted at Basai Wetland


It was a great and pleasant surprise for me to spot a whole lot of Bar Headed Geese Parked in a field adjacent to the Basai Wetland. It was early morning and there was still some mist, and the sun was in the wrong direction. Nevertheless, I was able to click a few snaps of these birds. The Geese were huddled together even as a few buffalos were grazing.




Bar-headed Geese, incidentally, are the world's highest flying birds! Some of them have been found flying over the Mt. Everest over a height of 8,848 meters (29,029 Feet). The average peak altitude of the Bar-Headed Geese is 6,400 meters.



The Basai Wetland apparently, is a favoured resting place for the world's high-flying geese! I had read about geese being the highest flying birds in the world, but never knew I would come across them face to face! Incidentally, The Bar Headed Geese in India breeds only in Ladakh within Indian limits and is commonly found in Kashmir during winters. It can be found ranging from the south to central India, and in the East across the Gangetic Plains to Assam.


It is surprising that no one has mentioned the presence of these birds in the area. I guess we need to work on creating a census of birds spotted in the month of February.





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