Last week we went to Mill Pond to observe the Canada Goose and other waterfowl.
This scourge of the cultivated green space is quite a magnificent creature.
It can fly at a speed of 40 km per hour, and when chased up to 95 km per hour. However when the goslings are half grown the parents molt and are not able to fly till the tale and wing feathers are grown back in.
According to the information boards at Mill Pond many geese have become lazy because of the overabundance of food and some will not migrate. Feeding the geese adds to this problem. (We read the signs after Norah had shared her apple).
Geese do not mate until they are 2 or 3 years old. That is why the huge flocks of birds you see in the fields or around ponds don't all pair up and nest (and like their human counter part teenagers hang around and eat and socialize).
Geese mate for life.
To gain an appreciation watch one of my all time favourite movies Fly Away Home.
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