Upland Goose

For my small (but growing!) collection of Andean bird shots, here are a few images of an Upland Goose aka Magellan Goose, a Chloephaga picta male and female, spotted in Tierra del Fuego National Park in the southernmost reaches of Argentine Patagonia.

They’re common in grasslands in this part of the Southern Hemisphere, and as far away as the relatively nearby Falkland Islands, and more recently in the sub-Antarctic South Georgia Island. As such, farmers don’t like them, considering them pests. At 60–72.5cm (23.6–28.5in) long and 2.7–3.2kg (6-7lb) in weight, sizable pests.

Females, above, are brown with black-striped wings and yellow feet. Males, below, have a white head and breast and black/brown streaks on their back and wings.

The four images above were snapped on February 2, 2013, at Tierra del Fuego National Park, near Ushuaia, Argentina. Below are four more images, recently rediscovered, taken on February 9, 2013 at the Lagune Nimez Reserve in El Calafate, Argentina. The first three are females and the last a male.

And another recently (re)discovered, taken on Martillo Island on the Beagle Channel, where I watched a dozen or so Upland Geese hanging out with what appeared to be about a thousand Magellanic Penguins. Taken on 31 January, 2013.