Cereopsis novaehollandiae
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The Cape Barren goose (Cereopsis novaehollandiae), sometimes also known as the pig goose, is a species of goose endemic to southern Australia. It is a distinctive large, grey bird that is mostly terrestrial and is not closely related to other extant members of the subfamily Anserinae.
The Indigenous Jardwadjali people of western Victoria refer to this species as toolka. The Noongar people of south-western Western Australia use the name bibib. The common name "Cape Barren goose" was first ascribed to this species by shipwreck survivors in 1797. When Sydney Cove was wrecked off Preservation Island, south of Cape Barren Island, the sailors who survived the wreck used the geese as one of few sources of food on the island, and named it after Cape Barren, which was the name of the south-eastern tip of the island at that time, named by Tobias Furneaux in 1773.
The Cape Barren goose was first formally described by English ornithologist John Latham in 1801 as Cereopsis N. Hollandiae. The species had been earlier reported from the Bass Strait by George Bass and Matthew Flinders in 1798, who referred to it as a "Brent or Barnacle Goose".
The taxonomic placement of this... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maria Island National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Flinders Chase | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 3 | Wilsons Promontory National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Cape Barren Goose sighting in Flinders Chase on a given day, based on 204 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 12th most-seen of the 68 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March, July and September–October
In those months about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Cape Barren Goose in Flinders Chase on a given day, against about 30% in December, the lowest month. August has too few records to rate.
Between 2 and 5 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Cape Barren Goose sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 3
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Cape Barren Goose sightings, Flinders Chase ranks 2nd at about 50%. The best odds are in Maria Island National Park (Australia, about 90%).
Same family: Anatidae
The closest relatives of the Cape Barren Goose that you can see in Flinders Chase (family Anatidae, Ducks, Geese, and Swans) are Pacific Black Duck (about 10%), Musk Duck (about 10%) and Black Swan (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Cape Barren Goose is recorded against all the birds logged in Flinders Chase (204 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.
