The bird has come to the attention of medical science in recent years as having been an early victim of the H5N1 virus, HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza), at Qinghai.

"[6] In fact, bar-headed geese had for a long time not been directly tracked (using GPS or satellite logging technology) flying higher than 6,540 metres (21,460 ft), and it is now believed that they do take the high passes through the mountains.

Surprisingly, despite predictable tail winds that blow up the Himalayas (in the same direction of travel as the geese), bar-headed geese spurn these winds, waiting for them to die down overnight, when they then undertake the greatest rates of climbing flight ever recorded for a bird, and sustain these climbs rates for hours on end, according to research published in 2011.

[10] The modern winter habitat of the species is cultivated fields, where it feeds on barley, rice and wheat, and may damage crops.

Birds from Kyrgyzstan have been seen to stopover in western Tibet and southern Tajikistan for 20 to 30 days before migrating farther south.

It is possible that, owing to a combination of frequent migration, accidental escapes and deliberate introduction, the species is becoming gradually more established in Great Britain.

[1] The main physiological challenge of bar-headed geese is extracting oxygen from hypoxic air and transporting it to aerobic muscle fibres in order to sustain flight at high altitudes.

[13] Studies have found that bar-headed geese breathe more deeply and efficiently under low-oxygen conditions, which serves to increase oxygen uptake from the environment.

[14] The haemoglobin of their blood has a higher affinity for oxygen than that of low-altitude geese,[15] which has been attributed to a single amino acid point mutation.

[22] Another interpretation suggests that the bar-headed goose is likely to be the Kadamb in ancient and medieval Sanskrit literature, whereas Hamsa generally refers to the swan.