Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)
This more familiar and most common of the wild geese is best known
in urban areas as a visitor in spring and fall.
Sizes vary, but the head and neck markings make this goose easily
identifiable. The Canada Goose breed on lake shores and coastal
marshes, primarily in Canada, and migrate in organized units utilizing
the well known V-formation, although sometimes flying in long strings
of birds.
Flying by day and night, Canadas have set down in flocks on
city squares, apparently mistaking a pool of light for a water surface.
They seldom live in cities or towns, although visiting urban parks on
occasions. Their honking cries in migration have stirred the blood of
many an urbanite on a fall night when traffic noises let the wild cry
from the skies leak through.