Goose

V-formation

Migrating Canada geese fly in the famous V-formation, a flight pattern that:

• Reduces drag for trailing geese (each bird flies in the upwash from the bird ahead).
• Allows easy visual tracking among flock members.
• Distributes leadership — the lead position is the most exhausting, so geese rotate.

Studies of GPS-tracked geese show that lead positions cycle every few minutes, with each bird taking turns at the energetically expensive front. The effect of formation flying is a roughly 30% reduction in energy required to cover the same distance.

A success story turned nuisance

In the early 20th century, Canada geese had been hunted to near-extinction in much of their range — populations crashed dramatically. Conservation programs in the 1950s reintroduced birds successfully, and modern populations exceed 5 million in North America.

The success has produced new problems. Geese have learned that suburban lawns and golf courses provide year-round food (grass) and that public parks lack predators. Many populations have stopped migrating entirely — establishing resident populations that breed locally and stay year-round.

The result: lawn damage, abundant feces, occasional aggressive defense of nests, and risks to aircraft (Canada geese famously caused the 2009 “Miracle on the Hudson” airliner ditch in New York).

Pair bonds and family

Canada geese form lifelong pair bonds. A pair raises 2–8 goslings each season, with both parents participating in defense and care. The young stay with their parents for the entire first year of life — through migration if migrating — before being expelled to find their own mates the following spring.

Wild meat and farm domestication

Canada geese have been hunted for meat for centuries. The Embden goose (and other domestic goose breeds) descend from the greylag goose (Anser anser), not the Canada goose — Canada geese have not been domesticated despite their abundance.