Hello, today while strolling around a lake where my place of work is, I watched a couple of Canada Geese apparently feeding on the bottom, you know when they have ti stretch so much they stick their tails vertically in air half submerged.
Well that is what I thought when one of the 'feeding' geese seemed to 'over-do' it and fall on its back so that it was floating on the surface upside down! There was a brief flap and the goose righted itself. I chuckled thinking I had witnessed an over-eager goose over-doing it while feeding underwater. However the second goose did exactly the same thing and then the first goose did it once more.
I suddenly realised that they were apparently washing their backs. After flapping their wings, legs akimbo, upside down they would right themselves and then start their preening.
I assumed that most water fowl would 'wash' by dipping their heads under the water to cause a back wash when they lifted it again so it ran down their backs. Not this crazy method of doing what was effectively a somersault on the surface of the water.
Is this 'normal' behaviour?
Hi pkx166h, I see you have just joined the forum so welcome.
That is most extraordinary behaviour you describe. We have loads of Canada Geese on my local reserve but I've never seen them doing anything like that. Any chance of capturing them doing that on camera do you think. It would be very interesting to see.
TJ
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Tony
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I have just recently seen a video of canada geese doing this and it wasn't something I was aware they did before.
The necessity of bird-watching is a really good reason for avoiding all forms of housework.
The dust will still be there tomorrow - the birds may not be!
Well I can try to film them - but I am wondering if the odds of catching them without spending hours by the lake might be remote.
I did find one video online that shows the 'standard' way
http://tinyurl.com/yetash8
Nothing on the method I have seen though...I'll take a stroll again today and see.
Welcome Pkx166h! I have seen a few water birds do this but that Canada geese in particular! It does look strange!
"All weeds are flowers, once you get to know them" (Eeyore)
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I have seen Mallards doing a somersault and staying on their backs for a few seconds but not any bigger birds.
I will put that in the "one thing I didnt know yesterday file"
I have this vision of people all over the place staring at Cananda geese for hours on end ;-)
Pssst! Nudge nudge Wanna see some pictures Here
Hmm this does sound interesting! Certainly not something I have personally ever seen, but it does seem logical to assume they have learnt the behaviour from observation. Certainly from having a quick scan through “British Birds Index” they have been recorded as displaying unusual somersaulting diving behaviour and correction as you describe.
Sorry to go off track but this instantly reminded me of the pictures floating around in the press last year of a Greylag appearing to momentarily fly upside down!?
Other bizarre observations in Canada Geese include records of them nesting in trees and taking over and hatching mallards eggs!
Well i did go and try and film them, the problem is now that I am standing by the shore watching, the pair of Swans that also frequent these lakes come up to me expecting food and of course the Geese shove off to the far part of the lake.
So I haven't been able to see them do it, although I got a nice camera phone movie of the pair of them preening right in front of me for about 10 minutes.
Not that interesting but quite hypnotic nonetheless - the way they use their prehensile neck to 'clean' their backs and one of them did a funny thing with one of his feet by running it through an outstretched wing (maybe to comb it?). I also noted that they do that 'thing' with their wings where they fan them out, usually to make themselves look big and agressive while swimming, but while they were fanned out it was obviously to 'dry' the feathers.
Oh well...maybe next tim