Yesterday morning, I saw several flocks of Canada geese fly over. We don't have any open water except for some parts of rivers. Now, in some fields the snow is gone and they could feed.
Nevertheless, they are probably not going to land here and stay. No, the first geese here are going on. Water isn't open here and they are flying further north, What gives?
Well, some Canada geese fly to lakes on the arctic coast. They stay on the ice for six to eight weeks. They eat debris on the ice from material that has blown on the ice during the winter. There are also insects on the ice at that time of year. There will be fresh water on top of the ice.
When most of the snow and ice have melted they will nest.
Now Innuit hunters take advantage of this situation and harvest large numbers of geese. They use white material to make a blind that allows them to move. They are a able to harvest many geese. Meat and down it valuable at that time. These days hunters fly out and make a camp and stay a few days. People who have permanent jobs go on these hunts.
I don't know about their behavior in the fall. I do know that it's pretty cool when flying, to look down and see flocks of geese below you.
