Spur-winged goose

Description:

A massif black goose, mainly black with various amount of white on the body, and the red beak and face - male sports much more red skin on his face than the female.

Habitat:

Even though typically gregarious goose, I saw only this specimen that day in Awasa... and from quite far away, which is my excuse for such a low quality of the shot. This is an African species, found in wetlands all over sub-Saharan Africa. Here, seen in a protected wetland and forest area on lake Awasa (Hawasa) of Ethiopia; the place I already evoked several times as a birdwatcher paradise...

Notes:

An interesting fact about this goose, just found on Wikipedia - it is said that its flesh can be poisonous (?????) mainly due to its diet of blister beetles; the poison, cantharidin, coming from these beetles is held in goose tissues, causing poisoning of those who eat the cooked goose.