This is a Bar-headed goose. Every spring Bar-headed geese migrate over Mount Everest, where oxygen is scarce and life is rare. Flocks of bar-headed geese--the world's highest-altitude migrants--fly from their winter feeding grounds in the lowlands of India through the Himalayan range, sometimes even directly above Everest, on their way to their nesting grounds in Tibet. These birds are powerful flappers. Their wings are huge, have a disproportionately large surface area for their weight, and are pointed to reduce wind resistance. They can fly over 50 miles an hour on their own power. Add the thrust of tailwinds of perhaps 100 miles an hour if they are lucky, and these birds really move. Able to gauge and correct for drift, bar-headed geese can even fly in crosswinds without being blown off course. The same powerful and unremitting flapping that helps propel them over the mountains also generates body heat, which is retained by their down feathers. This heat, in turn, helps keep ice from building up on their wings.

Bar headed GooseGoose