Feathered Friday ~ Hawaiian Nene Goose

What moos like a cow, honks like a
goose, and makes a "nay, nay" sound?

The Hawaiian goose is known locally as the nene or nēnē (pronounced nay-nay after one of the sounds it makes.) It is the rarest goose in the world and an unusual one. Believed to have evolved from Canada geese that, um, got lost, it doesn't migrate, doesn't fly much, and doesn't swim much, unlike most geese. And while most geese have webbed feet for swimming, the nene's have longer toes, less webbing and thicker padding, adaptations for walking on lava fields.

They're not large geese, standing approximately 16" (40.64 cm) tall, 2' (60.96 cm) long, and 3.5 to 6.5 lbs (1.59 to 2.95 kg) in weight. Herbivores, they feed on leaves, grass, shrubs, flowers and fruit.

Nene geese mate for life. They have a longer breeding season than most geese, then produce 1 to 5 eggs in a nest on the ground made by the female. The female alone incubates the eggs. Since nene don't fly much, the goslings are protected by staying with their parents for their first year.

The nene have been protected since 1967 and, as their numbers have been recovering, in 2018, their status was changed from endangered to threatened.

References

Birds of the world: Nene
40 Fascinating Facts about the Hawaiian Goose

Images

Photos taken with my Canon SX620 HS in Hilo, The Big Island, Hawaii, USA

@kansuze