If there’s one thing that will lift the spirits of any Canadian it’s seeing and hearing the return of the Canada geese in the spring. The geese practically shout at us, “Winter’s over, winter’s over!” In the fall when we see them heading south we hear, “Hurry, hurry, not much time left, winter’s coming, winter’s coming!”
I call the Canada geese who live on our lake ours because I know they come back to the same nesting place year after year, and, after updating my goose knowledge on the Internet, I confirmed my suspicion that their offspring also return to their original home.
Nothing that I read prepared me for a picture my son sent to me though. He lives near a river and often walks in its flood plain. One day he heard that typical goose honking sound but none were flying overhead or swimming on the river. They were roosting, yes roosting, in the trees. Go figure.
These pics are not photoshopped.
From Hinterland Who’s Who
http://www.hww.ca/en/wildlife/birds/canada-goose.html
Canada Geese are readily recognized by their irregular “V” formation as they pass overhead in spring and fall. They can often be heard as well, since there is usually a steady chorus of honking. Their calls range from the deep ka-lunk of the medium and large races to the high-pitched cackling voices of smaller races. Researchers have determined that Canada Geese have about 13 different calls ranging from loud greeting and alarm calls to the low clucks and murmurs of feeding geese.
Goslings begin communicating with their h while still in the egg. Their calls are limited to greeting “peeps,” distress calls, and high-pitched trills signalling contentment. Goslings respond in different ways to different adult calls, indicating that the adults use a variety of calls with a range of meanings to communicate with their young.
Habitat and Habits
You can find Canada Geese on almost any type of wetland, from smell ponds to large lakes and rivers. However, Canada Geese spend as much or more time on land as they do in water.
Canada Geese breed in a wide range of habitats. They prefer low-lying areas with great expanses of wet grassy meadows and an abundance of ponds and lakes that serve as refuges from foxes and other land predators. The most northerly geese breed on the treeless tundra of the Arctic. Below the treeline, the geese nest in the open boreal forest, with its scattered stands of stunted spruce and tamarack. In southern Canada and throughout the United States, nesting Canada Geese are at home in many places, from sheltered mountain streams and prairie pothole ponds to golf courses and urban parks. During fall and winter, Canada Geese favour agricultural land where vast fields of cereal grains and other crops provide abundant food and relative safety from predators.
Family bonds are strong in Canada Geese—goslings stay with their parents for a full year, returning to the breeding grounds with them after their first winter. Migrating flocks in fall and spring thus consist of a number of families travelling together.
While most Canada Geese are territorial during the nesting period, they congregate in flocks of several hundred to several thousand when they are migrating or are on the wintering areas.
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mltipton.blogspot.com,https://www.facebook.com/Northof543/, April 14, 2019
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