Canada Goose

What a gaggle! Colorado is filled with Canada Geese to the point where you would like to take a vacuum cleaner and clean up all the schoolyards, golf courses, and public parks. The Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) is like those pesky Californians. They migrated through on a trip and just stayed dang it. The analogy doesn’t stop there either. They are noisy, confrontational, and down right rude. The flock I photographed for this post took off with a cacophony of honks reminiscent of an LA traffic jam and flew in with no respect for the locals.

Take off from a nearby school

In flight

Landing. That is ice folks and the geese slide a yard before stopping. I too was surprised this small lake was frozen considering it was 60 degrees out. That is Colorado for you though. One day below zero, the next day it is practically summer.

Taxiing

Parked at the gate. A small chunk of unfrozen lake was the destination for all the birds.

These pesky interlopers hang out on the green spots for a reason, they eat the stuff. Golf courses are particularly delectable but so is the silt at the bottom of a pond. If that were my diet I would honk too.


Still, there is nothing like seeing a V-formation of a hundred or more Canada Geese fly overhead or the graceful sweep of their wings. On land they possess less than graceful goose-like moves, however, that remind of the Sauropods from Jurassic Park. Who was mimicking whom in that movie I would like to know! I think these tourists cum residents have kept the attitude of their distant ancestors. As a native Californian transplanted to Colorado, I can relate!