For years I had referred to the geese in my area as Canadian Geese, which I discovered today is just plain wrong. They are Canada Geese. From my reading, their name means from Canada, but I suppose since geese don’t technically have nationalities and freely migrate without passports or birth certificates between the United States and Canada they are not “Canadian”. What has always been a bit of a mystery to me was there propensity to fly in a particular formation, often labeled the “V” formation. I knew it was supposed to make it easier for them to fly greater distances at reduced exertion, but I had no idea how effective it was. When a skein (not a gaggle, that’s when they are not flying) of 25 geese is in the “V” formation each bird reduces its drag by up to 65 percent and increase its range by 71 percent. Pretty impressive, especially thinking how we humans have difficulty forming a queue entering a movie theater.
A Skein of Canada Geese
Nikon D800 Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm f/9 ISO100 1/160 second