History, Natural History & the Arts
The musical honking of Canada geese and their V-shaped flocks streaming overhead are classic signs of autumn. I hear the clamor of geese as they fly low over my house, preparing to land in the hayfield in our valley.
Sometimes I spot the large, black-necked birds before they take off to continue their journey. Where are they coming from, I wonder, and where are they going? [Read more…] about Canada Goose Migration: Where Are They Going?
Worldwide, the cost of bird collisions with planes has been estimated at $1.2 billion per year. But information on bird movements throughout the year can help avoid damage to aircraft and risk to passengers.
Scientists from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and partners have been looking for patterns in bird strike data from three New York City area airports. Their findings were recently published in the Journal of Applied Ecology. [Read more…] about Bird Collisions With Planes: A New Study Looks At Patterns
Among these impatient migrants to New York State each spring are pairs of Canada Geese that have overwintered in the windswept corn fields of Southern New York, and across the Pennsylvania and New Jersey countryside where they have found an adequate source of food. [Read more…] about Nesting Time for Canada Geese
Atlantic Population (AP) Canada geese nest throughout northern Quebec and winter from New England to South Carolina. The largest concentrations of AP geese occur on the Delmarva Peninsula (Delaware and the eastern shores of Maryland & Virginia). [Read more…] about Precipitous Decline In Atlantic Canada Goose Cuts Hunting Season Short
A large V of Canada geese flying noisily over my head – and traveling north, rather than south – got me wondering about the ins and outs of fall migration. Shouldn’t these big birds be flying to warmer climes this time of year?
Why do they travel in that V-formation, anyway? [Read more…] about Migrants and Residents: Canada Geese
This has always been my perception of bird migration in the fall: the days grow short and cool and then, one day, I notice a v-shaped caravan of Canada geese flying southward. Then another and another. Within a few weeks of that first sighting, I hear their melancholy call one final time for the season. Then they, and all the summer birds, are gone.
It’s a mass exodus for warmer climes, over and done in the blink of an eye and long before the snow flies. [Read more…] about Not All Birds Migrate