CANADA GOOSE ON LAKE SUPERIOR, GREEN, MICHIGAN, MAY 17, 2009
Pentax K10D
SMC Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 ED (IF)
1/750 sec. f11
ISO 400
Watching aquatic birds coming in for landings is instructive for small-plane pilots like me. Note how the trailing feathers on the wings are extended like Fowler flaps, with the tailfeathers spread and hanging out in the airstream to further slow the goose before its wet touchdown. The black outboard feathers on the wings serve as ailerons to keep the bird straight and level.
3 comments:
Ok, Henry, what's the story on "Canada" geese? I understand they were Canada geese before there was a Canada, so who was Mr. Canada?
Damned if I know, Carl!
The Internet isn't much help. One site says the goose was named by an ornithologist called John Canada, but gives no attribution, so it's not trustworthy.
The Wikipedia site says the Oxford English Dictionary cites the first reference to a Canada goose as occurring in 1772.
Maybe they were called "big honking geese with those funny chin straps that crap all over the yard" until somebody noticed that they spent their summers in Canada, hence gave them that name. But that theory is about as reliable as the John Canada story.
Maybe they were named after the California town, La Canada, now to search what that means in Spanish, or just start calling them 'Canyada' Geese.
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