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  • Writer's pictureCaden Green

A Canada What?- Academy high animals


The Canada goose is a common sight in most of North America, notable

for its black head with white patches on the sides. You can often see them around the Academy High campus and at the nearby Mattis Park. They are able to thrive in places occupied by humans, like small artificial ponds which are common in developed areas like cities. It is not widely known but there are multiple subspecies of this bird.

Goose flying (Daniel D’Auria CC2.0)

The giant Canada goose, one of the subspecies, was once thought to be extinct until they were rediscovered in the 1950s and subsequently reintroduced to North America. The giant Canada goose either does not migrate or migrates very short distances compared to other subspecies. Moffit’s Canada goose is a much more common subspecies. They are smaller in size and have higher pitched calls than their larger counterparts. A good way to tell them apart, their size notwithstanding, is that the black portion of the neck starts higher up on the giant Canada goose.


Geese in V formation (John Benson CC2.0)

Moffit’s Canada geese commonly migrate long distances between seasons, wintering near the southern United States and breeding far into Canada and the US. Oftentimes, they will return to their original nesting site, year after year. When migrating, they usually fly about 3000 feet high, but have been reported at 29,000 feet high. They typically fly in a V-shaped formation. This formation allows them to exert much less effort to keep aloft as the geese ride on the wake from the wings of the geese ahead of them for a more efficient lift. There have been experiments showing that flying in a similar formation for transoceanic flights by jets uses about 10% less fuel due to the very same principle.

The wake from wings that geese utilize (NASA, public domain)
Jet Engine after a bird strike (Ekki01 CC3.0)













The geese themselves pose a danger to planes: being so common and weighing up to about 15 pounds makes them quite hard to avoid. This has led to many population control measures being put into place, especially around airports. Canada geese are often considered pests elsewhere, as well, due to excessive droppings, noise, and aggressive behavior around human populations.

Aggressive Goose (Lucy CC2.0)

In Urbana’s Crystal Lake Park, geese have been an increasingly problematic issue. Recently, park employees have become desperate to mitigate this, turning to trained dogs and laser pointers. Feeding geese can make the issue worse, as the geese will learn to beg for food and will lose their fear of humans, leading to more aggressive confrontations. If threatened by a goose, one should face it while backing away. Usually, they are defending their nest or goslings, so you can’t really blame them.


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