Anseranatidae

 The monotypic Magpie-Goose (Anseranas semipalmata) is considered by some authorities to be one of the oldest and most primitive in the order Anserifiormes (ducks and geese). Its structure and behavior suggest that it may be an ancestral link between wildfowl and the screamers of South America.

Additional information 

Like all geese, Magpie-Goose is social. It is often found in flocks of several hundred to the low thousands, and occasionally up to 80,000. If a predator approaches, every bird in the flock raises its neck and may take flight almost vertically, honking loudly. The birds roost on dry earth banks or in mangroves and trees in wet woodlands. They feed on land, or forage from underwater mud by upending in the shallows.

The bird's movements are mainly determined by the availability of food, and in dry years flocks may travel some distance in search of foraging areas. Some of the birds that breed in northern Queensland move north to southern New Guinea.

The Magpie-Goose is polygamous; following a noisy display, males usually pair with two females. Nests are built in small colonies, mostly in swampland, and made of rushes woven together with other vegetation. The downy young leave the nest within a day of hatching and are guarded and fed by the parental group for up to four months.

Taxonomy 

This family only contains one species: Magpie-Goose (Anseranas semipalmata). 

In the past this species has been placed within the Anatidae.