Adults: Head, neck, wings, tail and thighs, black. Back and underparts white but in dry season stained red-brown. Eye, brown. Bill, flesh-grey. Bare skin of face, flesh-grey. Feet and part-webbed toes, yellow. Claws, slate.
Downy Young: Head and neck, cinnamon-red, with a dark-grey stripe on upper neck. Back, flank, dark-grey. Underparts, white. Undertail and underwing, pale-grey. Bill, claret. Legs, claret.
Northern and eastern Australia south on the east coast to about Rockhampton, Queensland; casual to south-western Australia and Tasmania; also southern New Guinea.
Magpie Goose (Anseranas semipalmata) [XC776090]
by id from Roebuck Plains, Shire of Broome, Western Australia, Australia (call)
Magpie Goose (Anseranas semipalmata) [XC434369]
by Marc Anderson from Artemis Station, Queensland, Australia (call)
Breeding Season (Guide)
Begins October - November; nest building and egg laying delayed until water depth reaches 25 - 90 cm and vegetation in swamps is suitable, March - April.
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Nest
Flat, sometimes bulky, composed of rushes and herbage; placed on a trampled-down tussock of reeds, usually near the middle of a swamp.
Eggs (Guide)
6 - 9 (upto 16); cream; 64 - 80 x 46 - 63 mm. Incubation: 24 - 25 days; by both sexes.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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BirdLife International Species Factsheet