Honk, If You Like Geese!

Some things we can learn from geese.

A sense of a goose

Next Autumn, when you see geese heading south for the winter, flying in a "V" formation, you might consider what science has discovered as to why they fly that way. As each bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird immediately following. By flying in a "V" formation, the whole flock adds at least 71 percent greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own.
People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going more quickly and easily, because they are travelling on the thrust of one another.

When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird in front.
If we have the sense of a goose, we will stay in formation with those people who are heading the same way we are.

When the head goose gets tired, it rotates back in the wing and another goose flies point.
It is sensible to take turns doing demanding jobs, whether with people or with geese flying south.

Geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.
What message do we give when we honk from behind?

Finally - and this is important - when a goose gets sick or is wounded by gunshot, and falls out of the formation, two other geese fall out with that goose and follow it down to lend help and protection. They stay with the fallen goose until it is able to fly or until it dies; and only then do they launch out on their own, or with another formation to catch up with their own group.
I
f we have the sense of a goose, we will stand by each other like that.

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What's the difference between a snake and a goose?

A snake is an asp in the grass.

A goose is a grasp in the ass.



The whole story is just too long to tell but....40+ yrs/ago....rowing down the Platte river in Michigan, just the girlfriend & I. Suddenly a goose landed on the water next to our boat......apparently he just saw something in me that he did not like. He latched on to my butt & would not let go....it hurts like all hell, I didn't have the heart to hit him with the oar, the girlfriend is laughing so hard while still rowing .....we're just going in circles, I'm still fighting with the goose, she keeps laughing....finally another canoe'r rowed close, and started banging on the side of the canoe , and the damn thing let go. I did not know that bruises could be that many colors.
 

A couple in Florida adopted Gator and made him some custom sandals to protect his flappy feet from the heat of the floor.
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Today I was walking my dog on a long leash in a local state park. It was lightly snowing and around 14 degrees, so we were the only ones there. On the way back we came across a Canadian goose lying in the weeds by the edge of an empty parking lot. We were both surprised to see it there, and I tightened my dog's leash....but he's friendly and would have never hurt the goose. Anyway, we were very close to it and it didn't get up, which would be expected. It was alive and moving its head, but that's about it.

We finished our walk and I drove over to the park office, since I wasn't able to contact a human being by phone. I reported the goose, that I assumed must have been injured and told them the exact location. The rangers were all in a meeting at the time, but the lady who worked there assured me that she would tell them when their meeting was over and have someone go and check on the goose to see if it was okay or needed some type of assistance.

I told the woman that with the frigid weather and cold, biting blustery winds, it would be cruel to just leave the goose there if it was injured. If a stray dog didn't attack it, a coyote might. They're pretty good about seeing after the wildlife there, so hopefully the goose is in good hands. Even if the goose was injured so badly that they had to euthanize, it's better than suffering and dying slowly in the cold like that. :(

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Used to love geese until we got a pond. When they're at the park or anywhere outdoors they're gorgeous but if they land in my yard, I cringe. Was given an alligator head decoy by my brother-in-law that floats around and looks like there's a real gator in the pond and it worked like a charm. Problem solved. I guess that is unless someday a group of geese like these decide to land:

 
The lake near me has a nice walking path around it & hundreds of geese & other birds, including egrets, swans & pelicans. Some of the geese let me pet them.
 

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