First, you hear the honking. Then, as you look to the sky, you see a group of birds flying in a “V” formation. These are Canada geese, and chances are you have seen them either overhead, standing in a field, or lounging in a city park or on the golf course. Since we see them all the time, it is hard to believe that in the early 1900s these birds were endangered because they had been over hunted and had lost so much of their habitat to human development. In fact, it was thought that the Giant Canada goose subspecies was extinct. Fortunately, a small flock of these geese was later discovered, and with new game laws and preservation programs, Canada geese are now once again common.

The reason you might see geese in a city park or on the golf course is because they like to flock in fairly open areas where they can see any potential predators approaching. These are also places where the geese’s diet of grasses, grains, and aquatic plants tend to be close by. Geese have lamellae, or ridges almost like teeth, around the outsides of their bills that they use as a cutting tool as they eat.

Canada geese usually mate for life. The female normally lays around four or five eggs. Though the male never sits on the eggs, he is a very strong protector of the nest and his young family. If anyone or anything comes near the nest, he will charge and use his large wings as weapons. When the goslings first hatch, they can swim right away, but they don’t learn to fly until they are between 40 and 70 days old. Then, they too can become part of the “V.”