Laura Erickson’s For the Birds

The Egyptian Goose is unique—the only living member of the genus Alopochen. It was considered sacred by ancient Egyptian and figures in their artwork. Native to much of the Nile Valley and Africa south of the Sahara, its strange and arresting features have made it popular with aviculturists, and some of their birds have escaped captivity and established self-sustaining populations in Western Europe, the United States, and New Zealand. I saw it in several places when I went to Uganda in 2016, but have also seen it in California, where it isn’t considered “established,” and in Florida, where it is, so I got to include it on my ABA Continental Life List in 2023.