Very nice to just drop in on someone and get a glimpse of what it's like to stroll around locally. Same things seem to go on at all latitudes and longitudes. The Big Birds seem to be geese or swans. Hardy characters, aren't they?
Very nice to just drop in on someone and get a glimpse of what it's like to stroll around locally. Same things seem to go on at all latitudes and longitudes. The Big Birds seem to be geese or swans. Hardy characters, aren't they?
Looks like a swan to me, but color like a goose. Though, I believe the geese are a bit smaller.
They do look like swans for sure. And they have to camouflage themselves as well while hiding from predators in the vegetation. But there are geese too, oh and ducks Mallards, common and familiar in NorthAmerica.
Ha! So just like the cold Polar air, the Kanadagås can go south in North America or the Eurasian continent. I wonder if they call them Kanadagås or equivalent in Siberia?
According to wikipedia, those geese are the biggest geese in Europe, hence the bigger bird is definitively not a goose. It also says that although those birds sometimes visit the northern Europe in their migration patterns, most Canada goose observed in Europe is artificially introduced here.
They used to be on the national "red list" of protected species, now it has been moved to the "black list" of unwanted alien species.
Apparently - Канадская казарка according to Wikipedia. It seems like they can be found also on the Russian side of the border with Alaska, and hunting for them is illegal in Russia.
More interestingly, what are they called in Canada? :-)
Canada Geese. My dad owned a shop when we lived in Alberta, Canada. He didn't hunt but sometimes he would do work for trade and I remember venison, duck, and goose.
Oh, so geese and salads are two very different things then. You wouldn't order a "Greek salad" in Greece, a "Russian salad" in Russia, nor a "French salad" in France :-)
... or Canadian bacon in Canada. The US is crazy about making food ethnic. Egg toast is 'French toast' and pommes frites (fries or fried potatoes) are French fries, scones are English scones, hamburger meatballs to go with pasta are Italian meatballs...
The Americans just can't help themselves. Canada is Canada. We get along with everyone - we can't help it. Canadian geese can be Canadian geese even in Canada if that's what everyone else wants to call them.
Just going by memory there is the Greater Canadian Goose and the Lesser Canadian Goose. The coloring and markings are the same but there is a distinct size difference. They fly in unmistakable V-formations honking loudly as they come in for landings on lakes and in corn fields across the middle of the North American continent.
As I recall they winter all across Northern Mexico, Texas, the Gulf states and Florida Everglades and continue on to the Caribbean islands and South America. By March or so they make their way north once again. And I think they can fly at 50 or 60 mph for even 2 or 3 days at a time without stopping.
And yes, anything can become a pest -- even palm trees are weeds -- as the birds drop them in the middle of the yard or garden.