I dont understand geese

powder burner

powder burner

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Alberta, Canada
So they fly south when it gets pretty cold. They fly back when its not really that warm.

Can you give me a reason why they just dont fly back when its warmer and come back when its warmer? Like a month before it gets cold and a month after it gets warm in the late spring.

any critter biologist type people that can nswer my question?:confused:
 
Migration is poorly understood but day length is the common trigger across many species. At any latitude the length of daylight on April 1 is the same every year (yes, yes, I know about leap years but the geese don't care much about such human details) so it makes for a realiable cue to follow. Temperature works for some but is less trustworthy. Cold springs, indian summers, they tend to be less reliable cues. If you are looking for something to lay awake at night pondering, ask yourself WHY they started migrating....
 
There is also a high degree of competition for nesting areas, so those who get back to the north early have the best chance of getting their nesting site back. In mid April we'll get a few days with a stiff south wind and the Canadas will begin to show up, then the temperature will drop to -25 and the wind will howl out of the north for 3 or 4 days and there they are, out on the bald tundra, looking like a bunch of frozen turtles. The snows don't show up until May; they are much "smarter" as they come later and leave earlier.
 
My guess has been that they follow the food source. As long as they can get food they stay around. When the water freezes and their food sources get covered with snow or run out they move.
 
Canada Geese and Mallards and other duck species will often only migrate as far as the open water ends. They don't migrate because it's cold but because feeding and roosting sites are frozen over or under snow. There is a high competition for nesting sites and the first birds at a location generally get them. Their migration is primarily timed to the hours of daylight.

Other species like snow geese and Bluewing teal migrate much longer distances in order to reach historic feeding sites. The general location they are going to is hardwired into their brains.

I have shot banded birds that were hatched and banded in the southern United States but were shot in Canada. Why did they go farther north than their home site? Probably because they fell in with a flock of northern birds and stuck with them.
 
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