Tales From Mother Goose

I like geese.  We have geese at Alexandra Park and they will take bread from your hands and hiss if they think you are ignoring them.  I thought I’d share some interesting facts:

• they always fly in a ‘V’ formation; it gives them 71% more flying range (I wonder how scientists measured that?)
• all the geese in the flock go off on holiday together; no matter how weak or old they are, no-one is left behind; they fly at the back, where it’s easiest 
• if a bird becomes too weak to fly, a couple of the others will accompany it to land and stay with it until it dies  or recovers.  How wonderful is that?  here’s a haiku to celebrate:

Friendship 

Geese guard a stricken
comrade until it dies or
flies again – how neece.

• they mate till death do them part and might be widowed for years before choosing another mate
• they home, which reminds me that I’ve been meaning to tell you about the Hub’s Granddad Herbert, who raced pigeons as a hobby, carefully feeding and breeding and cherishing them and then, once their useful life was at an end, eating them

• each formation has a lead goose who sets the pace; when it tires, it falls back and another goose takes the lead
• they honk to encourage each other to keep going, a bit like the Hub’s wife when he’s tired of stroking her hair
• lost geese or those who’ve stayed behind to help a poorly pal are welcomed into passing formations as members of the family

•  they make great guard dogs (warning: this video contains excessive melodrama):