Dancing Egyptian Geese
This pair of geese had a little dance, a swish and sway. It was late evening and I tried to get
close, but there was no place for me to hide. They kept their distance.
These geese are not common to this area. Egyptian Geese are from the Sahara and Nile regions of Africa.
Dan Brooks, curator of vertebrate zoology at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, recruited bird-watchers around Texas to provide data. The purpose of the study was to learn about the ecology, behavior and reproduction of the geese.

Although he said the data are inconclusive at this early stage, he finds no evidence that the geese
are a major threat to our ecological system. "The territorial nature of Egyptian geese," Brooks
said, "may actually deter colonization of other species of non-native waterfowl such as giant
Canadian geese prone to population explosions in more northerly states."

Moreover, Egyptian geese seem to be living in harmony with a variety of smaller pond ducks, both
wild and domestic. So the mallards on local ponds will probably live peaceably alongside Egyptian geese.