Geese - why downstream?

[Phone]

Tench,

 

In the US there are two types of Canadian Geese - one resident and one migratory.

 

In urban areas, resident Canada geese have responded to landscape features that provide expanses of short grass for food, lack of natural predators, absence of hunting, and hand feeding by some people. Resident Canada geese have a strong tendency to return to where they were born and use the same nesting and feeding sites.

 

Phone

 

Edit: I suppose they return (evening) in mass thus the formation but go (morning) to feeding areas in twos and threes. [Just my guess]

Edited October 19, 2014 by Phone

[poledark]

Can't answer your Q John, but last Friday afternoon I was at Sandwich bay and watched several large V groups of Geese heading out to sea, going south for the winter? Also a couple of groups of Swallows went the same direction.

 

Did anyone see that shooting star/meteor this evening about 10 past 8? Left a long bright trail as it burnt out.

 

Den

[ayjay]

Can't answer your Q John, but last Friday afternoon I was at Sandwich bay and watched several large V groups of Geese heading out to sea, going south for the winter? Also a couple of groups of Swallows went the same direction.

The Swallows are quite likely to be leaving, but I'm not aware of any Goose species which departs the UK for warmer climes in winter: many come here for their winter in preference to their breeding places further North, Pink Feet and Brents being the most numerous of those.

[The Flying Tench]

They will have a favourite resting area and go back every night to it ,probably a large pond in that direction

If they are going in either direction perhaps they have fields in either direction they feed on but get disturbed so fly to the alternate one?

Thanks, Chesters, this is the answer that convinces me most, though thanks to others for suggestions. The places I have seen this are the Kennet (Newbury) and Thames (near Wallingford), both to far from the coast for the estuary theory. But I did see one island in the Thames recently with a huge number of geese there which could well be such a resting area.

[JV44]

They go down to the islands just above Moulsford railway bridge and the islands around Child Beale hundreds of the buggers

[barry luxton]

^{Very intelligent bird, they go downstream as the cormorant go upstream as TAT have a policy to shoot fish eating birds on sight.}

Edited October 24, 2014 by barry luxton

[Clifftop]

mmmm had duck for dinner tonight.

i'm in Bali

[barry luxton]

funny coincidence , I'm eating duck patty

[gozzer]

funny coincidence , I'm eating duck patty

 

I hope you're enjoying the duck Barry, but his name is Fred, not Patty!

 

John.

[Vagabond]

his name is Fred,

A neighbour's bantam cock was put down on the grounds he thought all the hens belonged to him and made life a misery for the other cockerels.

 

The freshly slain corpse was given to me, as I had expressed interest in it's furnace hackles for fly-tying.

 

De-feathered, he was obviously a tough old bird, so was stewed for a bit, and then turned into a chicken and onion curry.

 

Mentioning this to said neighbour, he reacted in horror - fly-tying was evidently OK, but eating what evidently ranked as a family pet was akin to cannibalism

 

"You.....ate....Fred ?" he said in disbelief and dismay

 

To this day, Chicken Dupiaza is referred to in our household as "Curried Fred"