The Gathering of the a**holes
It's the most wonderful time of the year - the geese are leaving
09 November 2021
They're migrating south so it's time to wave a cheery 'bugger off and don't rush back' to the flockers
Winter is coming but on the upside, the geese are leaving.
As they prepare to take flight, the geese congregate in ever-increasing numbers on the ground - geese on the ground being a 'gaggle'. They're noisy and sour-natured and they leave behind prodigious amounts of goose poop.
The difference between a 'gaggle' and a 'skein'
When they tire of making a nuisance of themselves on the ground and take flight, a gaggle of geese becomes a skein.
So they call out to each other as they fly.
The honking noise they make is produced by this specialised internal organ. As the bird flaps its wings, the chest muscles compress the bulb and the noise is released out of the throat.
The V-formation geese fly in has been seized upon as a metaphor for teamwork.
It's not, it's an act of laziness.
All the birds behind the lead are leaching off the wingtip vortices shed by the bird ahead of them and getting a free lift.
That's why they don't fly in a straight line, there'd be less free lift.
Often one side of the V will be longer than another because of the wind direction. A side wind reduces the wingtip vortices so there's less lift to be had.
So there's probably different metaphor to be wrung out of the flying V that you won't find in a motivational poster.
I've often thought the V-shape was a bit of a sky sign from the geese too - those familiar with UK culture will recognise the sentiment.
We'll see the geese next spring when they return for the breeding season though.
They'll come back horny and pissy and the only time you'd want to near one is to find out if it's true that geese are the 'Roast beef of the skies'. We can hope.
