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Geese Whiffling in for a Landing
It turns out that geese are built for fancy flying.
© Jen Goellnitz
Looking at a Canada Goose, you might not think their bodies are designed for fancy flying. But watch as a flock of geese comes in for a landing at a lake and you might be surprised. If the flock comes in too fast or too high above the water, geese have a little trick to slow themselves down for a safe landing. The geese stop flapping and then quickly roll their bodies upside down, while twisting their long necks the right way up. Finally, they rotate again to right themselves just in time to gently splash down. It’s a maneuver called whiffling. It seems to help the geese slow down quickly – but sometimes it might just be for fun.
BirdNote®
Geese Whiffling in for a Landing
Written by Conor Gearin
This is BirdNote.
Looking at a Canada Goose, you might not think their bodies are designed for fancy flying. But watch as a flock of geese comes in for a landing at a lake and you might be surprised.
[Canada Geese calling and flying, ML 87499, 0:30-0:34]
[“Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins”]
If the flock comes in too fast or too high above the water, geese have a little trick to slow themselves down for a safe landing. The geese stop flapping and then quickly roll their bodies upside down, while twisting their long necks the right way up. Finally, they rotate again to right themselves just in time to gently splash down.
[Canada Goose calling and landing, ML 294828491, 0:08-0:12]
It’s a maneuver called whiffling. The trick seems to let the geese rapidly decrease their speed and altitude. It’s a bit like the flaps on the wing of a passenger jet that extend to slow the plane down, but much more dramatic.
Several goose species and some ducks have been seen whiffling, as well as much smaller shorebirds such as yellowlegs and godwits.
[Canada Goose calls]
Whiffling might help migrating geese fly fast until the last possible moment. Or it could just be for fun. It turns out that geese are built for speed and tricky maneuvers.
For BirdNote, I’m Michael Stein.
[“Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins”]
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Senior Producer: Mark Bramhill
Producer: Sam Johnson
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Canada Goose ML 87499 recorded by M.D. Medler, and Canada Goose ML 294828491 recorded by D. Peterson.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2022 BirdNote November 2022 December 2024
Narrator: Michael Stein
ID# CAGO-04-2022-10-26 CAGO-04
References:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1366095
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/58072745
Conor Gearin
Writer
Michael Stein
NarratorSights & Sounds
