Goose

A goose is a large water bird. Its plural is geese, its male is a gander, and its opinion of you is low.^[1]

Geese are closely related to ducks and swans, and are the member of the family most likely to come towards you when you had expected them to go away.

Migration

Each autumn many geese fly thousands of kilometres to spend the winter somewhere milder. After weeks of preparation, navigation by landmarks, the Sun and the stars, and flying in formation through wind and weather, they arrive at a field that looks exactly like the one they left.^[2]

Geese fly in a V formation, which saves energy because each bird rides on the air stirred up by the one in front. The bird at the front gets no help and is swapped out regularly, making geese one of the few groups to have settled the question of who has to go first.

Behaviour

Geese guard their territory by advancing with the neck held low and the wings slightly raised, a posture zoologists formally classify as “no”.

Honking

Geese honk in flight. Most ornithologists believe this keeps the flock together. A rival school maintains that the honking is directions, and that the geese are lost every year, which would explain the field.^[3]

See also

• Duck – the goose’s smaller, calmer relative
• Pigeon – also has opinions
• Flamingo – a bird that stands on one leg instead of chasing you

References

1. Gander, G. (1990). Every Other Letter. Flock Press.
2. Feather, D. (2013). The Same Field. Wing Books. Second edition identical.
3. Honk, H. (2007). “Are They Lost?” Journal of Seasonal Fields 15: 1.