Egyptian Geese
Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden
Cape Town
South Africa
2016

Kirstenbosch is an important botanical garden nestled at the eastern foot of Table Mountain in Cape Town. The garden is one of 10 National Botanical Gardens covering five of South Africa's six different biomes and administered by the South African National Biodiversity Institute.


https://www.sanbi.org/gardens/kirstenbosch/

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden is acclaimed as one of the great botanic gardens of the world. Few gardens can match the sheer grandeur of the setting of Kirstenbosch, against the eastern slopes of Cape Town’s Table Mountain.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_goose

The Egyptian goose is a member of the duck, goose, and swan family Anatidae. It is native to Africa south of the Sahara and the Nile Valley. Egyptian geese were considered sacred by the Ancient Egyptians, and appeared in much of their artwork.

Egyptian Geese are South Africa’s second largest waterfowl, with males weighing more than 2 kg. Egyptian Geese are predominantly dark brown above the light grey to white below, with red or pink legs and beak, brown eye-rings and a conspicuous brown patch (often horse-shoe shaped) in the centre of the breast. On the ground, the white shoulder patch split by a thin, black continuous line aids in the identification of this bird.

Egyptian Geese are widespread throughout Africa except for arid areas without surface water, even occurring in some parts of Europe. Their preference is moist habitats such as dams, vleis, pans, large rivers and estuaries and they have also been seen out at sea. Inevitably, each little dam or lake in South Africa will at some stage be visited by at least one pair of Egyptian Geese. During the winter months, they often congregate in large numbers on fields of grain or green fodder. Both Spur-winged and Egyptian Geese can cause considerable damage to seedlings and young fodder plants but prefer grain fields after the harvest. They appear to prefer young seedlings such as wheat and oats early in the spring but in the winter they prefer grain. Cultivated rye grass fields are particularly favoured at all times.