Megan's Nature Nook
Nature Notes, Phenology, Photography, Fun Facts, Trips, Maybe Even a Bad Joke or Two... and More!
Seeing geese flying overhead in their big V formations this time of year makes me think about one of the many interesting encounters with visitors I have had over the years while working with the public. One of the places I worked we had the "Pizza Book" where we would write down interesting encounters and things people would say and do. You would not believe some of the questions or comments we would get, and the stories that were written in that book! All real things that happened during a normal work day. My parents always enjoy hearing about my stories from work!
One summer (either 2014 or 2016) when I was working at Itasca State Park as part of the Naturalist Corp, I was doing a Nature Cart about Hummingbirds. An older man came up to me and was telling me how hummingbirds migrated with geese and just hitched a ride south with them by sitting on their backs or tucking under the “arm pits” of their wings. He said he knew a guy who went goose hunting and shot a goose that had a hummingbird or two with it. And he said that man was an honest man and wouldn’t lie about it. Maybe he wouldn’t lie, but had fun pulling someone’s leg… Until that summer I had never heard of such a thing. Hummingbirds riding on geese to go south?! How could anyone think that to be true? In case you are thinking, “well, that would be a pretty smart thing for hummingbirds to do…” let me show you the facts and debunk this myth. Migration Time: Hummingbirds – Late August to early September Canada Geese – Still migrating even now in November Destination: Hummingbirds – Mexico and Central America Geese – South East U.S. Elevation: Hummingbirds – Tree top height, or just above the waves when crossing large bodies of water Geese – As high as 29,000 feet Resting Spots: Hummingbirds – Areas with flowering plants or hummingbird feeders Geese – Wetlands or fields As you can see, there are many differences between the migration of hummingbirds and Canada geese to show that in fact, hummingbirds do not hitch rides south with geese. Although, it is a fun story to tell and even funnier to picture the hummingbird strapping into its little airplane seat on the back of a goose and waiting for flight attendants to come by with nectar cocktails. It is quite impressive how birds know when and where to migrate and how they can make it past all sorts of obstacles on their way. Migration truly is a remarkable thing birds do; whether solo like hummers do, or with a whole bunch of others in a V formation like geese. Nature is quite amazing.
2 Comments
Judy Betcher
11/25/2017 07:21:53 pm
Interesting information about the hummingbird, even though I have never heard the geese story and it makes sense that a hummingbird would never catch a ride because they can fly fast on their own!!
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Elana
11/28/2017 03:43:00 pm
I love the title of this post!
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