Cereopsis novaehollandiae
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
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 |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Cape Barren Goose sighting in Wilsons Promontory National Park on a given day, based on 77 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 54th most-seen of the 138 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January and October
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Cape Barren Goose in Wilsons Promontory National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May, July and September, the lowest months.
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.
3rd of 3
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Cape Barren Goose sightings, Wilsons Promontory National Park ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Maria Island National Park (Australia, about 90%) and Flinders Chase (Australia, about 50%).
Same family: Anatidae
The closest relatives of the Cape Barren Goose that you can see in Wilsons Promontory National Park (family Anatidae, Ducks, Geese, and Swans) are Australian Wood Duck (about 50%), Black Swan (about 20%) and Pacific Black Duck (about 20%), 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 Wilsons Promontory National Park (77 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.
