Meet our wild geese!

Meet our wild geese

Hello! I don't know about you, but I love hearing the wild geese and seeing their flocks sailing through the air at this time of the year. So I thought it would be a nice opportunity to meet some of our wild (and not quite so wild) geese. Are you ready? Lets get started!

Barnacle goose

Barnacle geese can be identified by their black necks and white faces, and by the alternating blue-grey bars on their wings.

Brent goose

Brent geese are recognised by the large white patches beneath their tails and by the strip of white around their throats.

Canada goose

Canada geese are large with brown coloured wings and black necks with a white band around their cheeks.

White-fronted goose

White-fronted geese can be identified by the coloured ring around their eyes and the white mask above their beaks.

Greylag goose

Greylag geese are large, have broad orange beaks, pink legs, white undertails and are light brown in colour.

Egyptian goose

Egyptian geese are small and pale brown with a prominent brown eye path and a large white area on their wings.

What makes a goose, a goose?

Geese tend to be larger than ducks and smaller than swans. They often feed on land, but prefer to return to the safety of the water at night. They are also usually quite sociable and stay in constant contact with each other - hence their evocative calls as they fly.

Do all geese fly in Vs?

While we tend to envision all geese flying in a beautiful V shape as they fly, in fact, not all of them do.

Barnacle geese fly in large, irregular packs.
White-fronted geese and brent geese fly in either irregular packs or long, scattered lines.
Bean geese, pink-footed geese, greylag geese and Canada geese are those which are most often seen flying in typical V formation. (You can find out why geese fly in V formations here).

Where do geese fly to in the winter?

When we see geese flying in the autumn, we often assume they are migrating and leaving our shores. However, many flocks are actually arriving here from the ice-clad Tundra in search of our milder climate.

White-fronted geese arrive here from Greenland, Brent geese travel some 3,500 miles from Canada and Pink-footed geese herald from Iceland. As for Canada geese, they did used to travel from Canada, but these days most of the geese we see live here all year round.

That's right... rather than leaving, they come to our shores from further north in search of food and water. Althought with rising temperatures around the Arctic circle, less and less geese are needing to make this long, autumnal journey.

Summary

Well, there we go! I hope you enjoyed this post and feel a little familiar with how to identify some of our wild geese when you see them. To be notified about new nature walk and nature study tutorials, you can subscribe to my blog by clicking the button below x

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Why geese fly in V shaped formations

Why do geese fly in a V shape?

Hello! In this tutorial, we are going to learn all about how geese fly. Specifically, we are going to find out how and why geese fly in a 'V' shape. Are you ready? Lets get started!

Why do geese fly in formation?

Why do geese fly in formation? Well, no body entirely knows for sure, but studies have given us some very good insights into the probable how’s and why’s. It’s pretty remarkable. It seems that geese fly in a V shape for two main reasons.

The first reason, is that flying in a v shape, helps conserve their energy - important when flying long distances. The second reason, is that flying in this shape helps all the geese in the flock keep an eye on each other, helping them stay together as they fly - and helping them do-ordinate their flying so they don’t have mid-air collisions!

How does formation flying help geese?

Let’s think about that V shape. There is one goose right at the front, leading the way, while all the other geese trail behind. This leader does all the hard work. She both leads the flock and expends the most energy, flying against wind resistance.

As she flies, she creates a little vortex of air currents behind her wings, which spiral round and round. Immediately behind her, the spiral is in the downwards position. But move a little to her side, and the spiral of air is pushing up. So, the geese behind her make use of this to help push them up through the air. The same happens for the goose flying behind this second one, and so on and so forth.

Why else is formation flying important?

Not only do the geese following behind the leader use their wing beat to lift and carry themselves forward, but each goose behind flaps its wings exactly in sync with the goose in front! This helps them make constant use of the vortex and so reduces their workload. And if they accidentally move behind the bird in front and get caught in the downwards vortex, the actually change their flap so they are flapping the wings exactly opposite to the bird in front of them. How clever!

What other benefits are there?

Apart from conserving energy, studies have shown that their are other benefits to formation flying too. While the leader of the flock is working so hard, those following behind have much slower heart rates and they flap their wings less frequently. This also true when comparing geese flying solo. Those birds flying in formation also have lower flap cycles and heart rates than than birds flying solo.

Which birds lead the formation?

The leaders seem to be those birds with the strongest flight. They are also more experienced birds - maybe the younger birds would lead the flock astray! Even so, it is very hard work and even the strongest flyer will tire eventually. So, the geese take it in turns to lead the flock, with the leader dropping back to rest, allowing the next bird to take over.

Why is one side always longer?

The pattern made when birds fly in formation as a flock, is called an echelon or skein. And a v-shaped echelon is not the only bird flight pattern. There is a J-shaped echelon too. In fact, if you observe a flock of geese flying in a V-shape, you might notice that one side of the V is actually longer than the other - this is the J shape. Again, no body quite knows for sure why more birds fly on one side than the other. Some people think it might be to do with prevailing wind directions or air currents. Others postulate that like humans, birds may be left or right handed and so prefer flying on one side. ..

Which birds fly in formation?

Geese are not the only birds to fly in a V formation. Ducks, ibis, swans, seagulls, pelicans and flamingos also fly in formation. As do some of our shore and marsh birds - we watched a flock of oyster catchers fly off in a perfect V-shaped echelon just this morning! Which birds have you seen?

Well, there we go!

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial all about geese and their amazing flight formations. How many formations can you spot flying past this autumn? Oh, and if you wanted to learn more about how to identify our most common wild geese, I have put together a handy illustrated guide in this post.

Don't forget, if you enjoyed this tutorial and would love updates about other, similar tutorials, you can subscribe below to join my mailing list x

Meet our wild geese!