Geese, wonderful Canadian Geese. They are always a welcome sound and sight, no matter whether they are coming or going. From Kengi, who notes: Once on the lake, one of them decided to conduct the horn section for a serenade. Click for full size.
© Kengi, all rights reserved.
Flying manure bombers!!
The conductor pix are great. Is that Herbert von Gooseajan?
*GREAT* photos, Kengi!
Wonderful shots, Kengi
Great photos of great migrating birds.
Saw some migrating geese yesterday when I was swimming in the sea (14° C, not yet ice swimming). They were making a constant crying noise, so they might have been Canadians, couldn’t see any details.
Nitpick. They are Canada Geese, not Canadian geese.
Beautiful pics. :)
Crimson Clupeidae @ 5
Ok, I’ll call them Canada geese from now on. I’ve used the name Canadians, because they’re an introduced species from Canada and because of lazyness. OTOH, I’ve never called barnacle geese barnacles.
CC @ 5:
I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but it’s not unheard of for people here to say, the “Canadians are here!” when Canada geese are first spotted returning. Myself, I just stick with a a delighted “Honkers!”
Ice Swimmer@#4:
They were making a constant crying noise, so they might have been Canadians
I thought canadians apologize. A constant crying noise would be MRAs.
Cranes.
They’re noisy, too. They sound like a rusty gate.
And their flight pattern is messy.
They’re Canadian geese! I’m sure their passports are all in order, too. Curiously, I don’t think they land locally at all, though if they’re in Finland, it’s probable they do a flyover.
Recently caught cranes flocking right above our house, travelling in slow spirals and slowly gathering the herd. They’re probably chilling in some farmer’s field right now, doing a head-count for the major haul.
Next time you make sure and see them Canadians are okay, it can be dangerous swimming near geese!
rq @ 10
We do have a nesting population here, introduced 1966-70, for the benefit of hunters. I always keep a respectful distance to geese, especially if he big Canada geese. The geese I saw were flying at a distance, quite high and away from the place I was in.