These Canada Geese were observed as they engaged in a number of interesting courtship rituals. There were several paired geese at this location, and each couple seemed generally confined to a particular section of the pond.
There was a lot of honk-a-lonking as males and females followed each other around their portion of the small lake. From time to time the individual twosomes could be seen engaging in the Canada Goose’s peculiar courtship dance. Necks were stretched high in the air. Honking ensued. At other times the geese would extend their necks out low and flattened their bodies against the surface of the water, swimming together all the while.
When not actively engaged in courting, the pairs of geese diligently patrolled their territory on the water, gently encouraging adjacent geese to respect the invisible boundaries.
Typically, these encounters were low key, but at one point another group of geese flew in from the north and rudely landed right in the middle of a courting pair. What a ruckus resulted! The intruding geese were encouraged to leave, and the defending geese were challenged mightily. In the end, the uninvited guests were successfully chased away.
