by Steven Pike

Created on: June 02, 2007

The Canada Goose is a common and easily recognizable bird native to North America. It is most famous for its "v" like formation in flocks when migrating in Spring and Fall. Today, especially along the east coast of North America, they are sometimes seen as pests. Their migrating behavior has changed, with a large number of birds becoming sedentary, remaining in a certain area of plentiful food for their lifetime. This has caused headaches for farmers of grain and other crops.

Originally however, the Spring and Fall migratory patterns of these Canada Geese were, and still are, amazing in their size and distance traveled. They breed all over the North American continent, except the far north or extreme south. The northern breeding geese start their migration in late Winter/early Spring. They head north as the ice melts and stop and feed at various points along the way. This migration takes anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months.

When it becomes too cold on their breeding grounds, and the water starts to freeze (usually in Fall) the geese migrate south. They travel vast distances, up to a 1000 km, and will cover this distance in much less time that it takes to complete the northern migration.

Their main Winter breeding grounds are along the eastern coast of the USA.

Whilst the above mentioned migrations are to breed, the geese also migrate north at times to moult. For a period of time, they are unable to fly whilst their feathers are replenished. They will head further north than the Spring migration takes them, in Summer, to find large areas of water and small islets where they can moult without fear of predation.

Unlike a number of bird species, the Canada Goose is not threatened and its population may even be increasing. This is due to a number of factors, but the clearing of land for farming actually may assist these geese as the farmland provides food and protection from predators. If the birds do not become totally sedentary because of this, then the migration spectacle of the Canada Goose should continue for many years.

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