Nettapus auritus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The African pygmy goose (Nettapus auritus) is a perching duck from sub-Saharan Africa. It is the smallest of Africa's waterfowl, and one of the smallest in the world. Though pygmy geese have beaks like those of geese, they are more related to the dabbling ducks and other species called 'ducks'.
It is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies. The African pygmy goose was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux in 1785. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Anas aurita in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. The type locality is Madagascar. The current genus Nettapus was erected by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich von Brandt 1836. The word Nettapus is from the Ancient Greek... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Moremi Game Reserve | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 3 | Chobe National Park | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 4 | uMkhuze Game Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 5 | Kafue National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 6 | Hwange National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 7 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 8 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Disney's Animal Kingdom | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | SeaWorld Orlando | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | San Diego Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Copenhagen Zoo | 🇩🇰 Denmark | |
| 5 | Zürich Zoo | 🇨🇭 Switzerland | |
| 6 | North Carolina Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Ostrava Zoo | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 8 | Zoo Miami | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | San Diego Zoo Safari Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Bronx Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 11 | Milwaukee County Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 12 | Slimbridge Wetland Centre | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 13 | The Maryland Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 14 | Detroit Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 15 | Birmingham Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 16 | Woodland Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 17 | Calgary Zoo | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 18 | Temaikén | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 19 | Moody Gardens | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 20 | Franklin Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 21 | ZooTampa | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 22 | Fort Worth Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 23 | Oregon Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 24 | Memphis Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 25 | Wilhelma | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 26 | The Green Zoo Wuppertal | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 27 | Cologne Zoological Garden | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 28 | Philadelphia Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 29 | London Zoo | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 30 | Buttonwood Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 31 | Central Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 32 | Zoo Lagos | 🇵🇹 Portugal | |
| 33 | National Aviary | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 34 | Cologne Zoo Aquarium | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 35 | Seattle Marine Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an African Pygmy-Goose sighting in Chobe National Park on a given day, based on 79 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 172nd most-seen of the 373 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report an African Pygmy-Goose in Chobe National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August to January, the lowest months. That is one of Chobe National Park's wettest months, with about 120 mm of rain against almost none in May.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most African Pygmy-Goose sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 8
Of the 8 parks where we can rate African Pygmy-Goose sightings, Chobe National Park ranks 3rd at under 5%. The best odds are in iSimangaliso Wetland Park (South Africa, about 30%) and Moremi Game Reserve (Botswana, about 20%).
Same family: Anatidae
The closest relatives of the African Pygmy-Goose that you can see in Chobe National Park (family Anatidae, Ducks, Geese, and Swans) are Egyptian Goose (about 60%), Spur-winged Goose (about 50%) and White-faced Whistling Duck (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the African Pygmy-Goose is recorded against all the birds logged in Chobe National Park (79 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
