About Oressochen jubatus (Bannister, 1870)
Oressochen jubatus, commonly known as the Orinoco goose, measures 61 to 76 cm (24 to 30 in) in length. Males weigh approximately 1.8 kg (4.0 lb), while females weigh around 1.3 kg (2.9 lb).
Adult males have an off-white head, neck, and breast, with faint buffy streaks on the nape and buffy scalloped patterning on the breast. Their mantle is gray with white scalloping; an orange band stretches across the upper mantle, extending onto the sides of the breast and flanks, and a dark brown crescent marks the area behind the flanks. Their undertail coverts are white, and their black wings feature a wide white speculum. Adult males have a black maxilla and a mostly red mandible on the bill, with bright salmon red legs and feet.
Adult females share the same general patterning as males, but have a drab wash on the crown and nape, less orange coloration on the flanks, and darker scalloping on the sides of the belly. Their legs and feet are dull orange rather than bright red.
The Orinoco goose’s distribution ranges from Venezuela south through Colombia, eastern Ecuador, eastern Peru, and Bolivia to far northern Argentina, and across a broad area of central Brazil. An isolated population occurs along the northern Brazil-Guyana border. The IUCN range map includes French Guiana, Suriname, and Paraguay within the species’ range, but the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society has no records of the species from French Guiana or Suriname, and only records it as a vagrant in Paraguay.
In the wet season, the Orinoco goose inhabits wet savanna and the edges of large freshwater wetlands. In the dry season, it can also be found on river beaches and oxbow lakes in the Amazon Basin.
