Stay a night at Zoarii and you will almost certainly meet the neighbours. They arrive on foot, in pairs, grazing their way across the paddocks with the unhurried confidence of animals that know the island belongs to them. Meet the Cape Barren goose, one of Australia’s great wildlife comeback stories and one of the most memorable sights on Phillip Island.
What exactly is a Cape Barren goose?
The Cape Barren goose (Cereopsis novaehollandiae) is a large, pale grey goose found only in southern Australia. It is instantly recognisable: a soft dove-grey body, a short black bill almost hidden under a bright greenish-yellow cere, dusky pink legs and black feet. Adults measure 75 to 100 centimetres from bill to tail, and a pair grazing together on green pasture looks almost sculptural.
By the mid twentieth century the Cape Barren goose was considered one of the rarest geese in the world. Protection and careful land management turned that around, and today Phillip Island is one of the easiest places in Australia to see them living entirely wild.
A lineage older than memory
Every bird on Earth is a living descendant of the dinosaurs, but the Cape Barren goose wears its ancestry more openly than most. It is the only member of its entire genus, sitting on a branch of the waterfowl family tree so old and so isolated that scientists spent decades arguing over where it belongs. Watch one stride across the paddock on those heavy legs, hissing softly with its snake-like neck low to the grass, and the family resemblance needs no explaining. This is about as close to sharing a lawn with a dinosaur as a long weekend gets.
Loyal for life
Cape Barren geese pair once and stay together for life. The couple you see grazing below the deck this spring will almost certainly be the same two birds next year, and the year after, and each autumn they set up and noisily defend a breeding territory against all comers. They raise their goslings together, graze side by side through winter, and are rarely more than a few metres apart. As role models go, guests could do worse.
An island with no predators
Here is the fact that explains why Phillip Island wildlife is so relaxed: after a decades long eradication program, the island was declared fox free, and there are no foxes, dingoes or large predators here at all. An adult Cape Barren goose on Phillip Island has essentially nothing that can eat it. That is why they graze in the open in broad daylight, why the penguins prosper, and why the geese will wander past the cold plunge without so much as a sideways glance. The goslings still keep an eye on the sky for ravens and birds of prey, but the adults carry themselves like royalty because, on this island, they effectively are.
Where to see them on Phillip Island
The honest answer is that on Phillip Island the geese find you. They graze the open farmland and coastal pasture right across the island, including the paddocks around Ventnor and Berrys Beach that surround Zoarii. Guests regularly watch pairs working their way across the grass from the yoga deck, morning coffee in hand.
For closer encounters, the Penguin Parade precinct, the Nobbies boardwalks and the island’s golf courses are reliable, and spring brings fluffy grey and white striped goslings trailing their parents.
Fast facts for your stay
- Once among the rarest geese in the world, now thriving across the Bass Strait islands.
- The sole member of its genus, an ancient and much debated branch of the waterfowl family tree.
- They mate for life and each autumn establish and noisily defend a breeding territory.
- They breed through the cooler months, so winter and early spring guests often see nesting behaviour and young goslings.
- They can drink brackish and even salty water, which is how they thrive on offshore islands.
- Adults have no natural predators on fox free Phillip Island.
- They are grazers, happiest trimming grass, so they do no harm and ask for nothing. Please never feed them.
- A goose that hisses at you is politely suggesting a wider lens.
Seeing them from Zoarii
Zoarii sits on 3.5 acres of private farmland above Berrys Beach, and the geese treat our paddocks as part of their territory. There is something quietly restorative about watching a species that nearly disappeared now wandering past the sauna without a care. Bring binoculars if you are keen, or just let them drift past while the plunge does its work. Wildlife watching does not get more comfortable.
This is the first in our Island Nature series. Next we will cover the wallabies that appear at dusk and the short-tailed shearwaters that pour home over the ocean each evening in their millions.
Two bedrooms, private sauna, cold plunge and 3.5 acres above Berrys Beach.
