Geese In My Backyard!

I found these geese in my backyard yesterday. I have found, as with these, that geese aren't very afraid of people. These geese let me get pretty close, and posed for a lot of pictures. I got close, but I was careful. If you make them angry, geese will attack you, so don't. They're not small animals, and they can hurt you pretty good. Make no mistake, they were keeping an eye on me, but I stayed just far enough away to keep them at ease. After I got all the pictures I wanted, I went back inside to have breakfast. I checked on them periodically throughout the day, and saw that they had decided to camp out in that very spot for the entire day. I was watching for golden eggs, but just my luck, there were none to be found. Ahhh, that's my life.

Last spring several flocks of geese would come around and make so much noise it would wake me up every morning. They'd be carrying on playing and fighting right outside my window. I would usually just stay inside until they left. I wasn't quite brave or stupid enough to try and take my chances out there. Even so, I was hoping to get a few pictures of the geese since then.

The Canada Goose was one of the many species described by Linnaeus in his 18th-century work Systema Naturae.It belongs to the Branta genus of geese, which contains species with largely black plumage, distinguishing them from the grey species of the Anser genus. The specific epithet canadensis is a New Latin word meaning "of Canada".

The black head and neck with white "chinstrap" distinguish the Canada Goose from all except the Barnacle Goose, but the latter has a black breast, and grey, rather than brownish, body plumage. There are seven subspecies of this bird, of varying sizes and plumage details, but all are recognizable as Canada Geese. Some of the smaller races can be hard to distinguish from the newly-separated Cackling Goose.

This species is native to North America. It breeds in Canada and the northern United States in a variety of habitats. Its nest is usually located in an elevated area near water, sometimes on a beaver lodge. Its eggs are laid in a shallow depression lined with plant material and down. The Great Lakes region maintains a very large population of Canada Geese.

In recent years, Canada Geese populations in some areas have grown substantially, so much so that many consider them pests (for their droppings, the bacteria in their droppings, noise and confrontational behavior). This problem is partially due to the removal of natural predators and an abundance of safe, man-made bodies of water (such as on golf courses, public parks and beaches, and in planned communities).

When threatened, geese stand erect and hiss.

- Wikipedia

What Wikipedia may not mention is that geese sometimes have bad tempers, and will attack a full grown human if they feel threatened enough. They use their wings to beat on you, and they can win. They've been known to kill dogs in a fight. As long as you give them a little space, you should have nothing to worry about, and you'll have a fun everyday adventure and an interesting experience.