By Christine A. Smyczynski
As my husband and I were driving past one of our local parks the other day we noticed that there were quite a bit of geese sitting around. That got us to thinking, where do Canadian geese migrate to, how do they know when to migrate, and why do they migrate?
While we often jokingly refer to retired folks as “snowbirds,” traveling south in winter and coming back in summer, geese actually are birds that do that very thing. Geese spend their winters in the southern part of the United States and some even go as far south as Mexico. In spring, when they head back up north, some stay in the northern United States, while some fly all the way north to the Arctic tundra. Most waterfowl breed in the north during the spring and spend their winters in the warmer climates in the south.
Geese generally do not head to one specific area; they usually decide to stop when they get to a place that feels comfortable to them. When migrating, they can actually travel 16 hours without stopping and can reach speeds up to 60 MPH. Some will even fly as high as 8,000 feet in altitude. Generally, the geese decide to fly south when their food supply, such as grass, berries, seeds, pond plants, and algae, begin to diminish at the end of summer.
The reason they fly in a V formation is to reduce drag on their wings by lining up with the bird in front of them, so they can save energy.