Wednesday, October 8, 2014

One Retiree’s Observation of Canada Geese Migration - Janice Chang Recorded


Time:                  September, 23, 2014 - Tuesday 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 noon
Place:         Taiwanese Presbyterian Church of Washington
                  (華府基督教長老教會)
                  7410 Beedwood Rd., Derwood, MD 20855
                          
Speaker:          Former TASS Official Photographer-楊友垣
Bio - He served the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 1985 – 2001 as mathematical statistician and retried in 2001. Prior to the USDA, he served the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as mathematical statistician from 1965 – 1985. 
He graduated form Biometry Section, Department of Agronomy, the National Taiwan University in 1954.

Synopsis:         Geese and humans are completely different animals. The photo journey shed some light where the similarities are shared through the lenses of his four-year photos.


Summary:

Migration –

         1. The Canada geese summered in northern North America and flew south when the cold weather arrived.  Sometimes they flew in flocks with the impressive aerodynamic V formations.  Sometimes, they flew alone.  I do not know the reason. “This shot was especially rare because they were flying toward my direction where I was shooting.”

         2. The timing of migration is unknown to me.  Some Canada geese have become so adaptable to local vegetation and weather that they are the permanent residents of parks, golf courses and suburb developments.

-Note- Around September/October, hundreds and thousands of Canada geese gathered around Maryland Eastern Shore ready to migrate to warmer regions in the south.


         3. Canada geese are protected under federal and state laws in U.S. No hunting is allowed on state park properties.  “They are happy and free to go without restriction.  Sky is the limit.  In retrospect, it took me (the speaker) almost 13 years to become the U.S citizen, kept plugging away and studying hard to find the job where the competitive workforce led me in the field, when white and African Americans were reluctant to accept.” 

Habitat & Lifecycle –

1.    They only eat certain plants – grass, agricultural crops and mostly alfalfa.  “Observe carefully for this picture, strangely to see this goose only eats this piece of grass but not the other.” 


2.    They would always keep pruning and cleaning their feather.  After eating, they would also exercise and enjoy the leisure music time together as a family.  The family groups stay together until mating season.  The male geese would claim as the heads and the superior figures while they protect and dominate over other groups. 

3.    They not only mate for life – male, slightly larger in size, would court the female bird, who would chase and swim in tandem with him.  Sometimes, the male bird would fight against another intruder during the breeding time to defend his territory, and mate.  Once the courting is over, the male gasps for air with the tongue sticking out – mission accomplished - The female would sit on the nest for hatching.  They are programmed to this cycle by nature.  It’s just like the human behavior.






4.    Family building – The male stands watch over the little ones and his mate proudly.  Both of the parents would take the goslings to a safe area where the parents, either male or female - it’s hard to tell – share the responsibility of making the nest, tugging the vines with repeated trips, and feeding and caring for the young.

5.    The greetings from the neighbor – the turtle.

6.    Five little goslings swim with the parents – one leading the way while the other tending behind. – “I do not know which gender of the parents in this formation.”

7.    Independent life - The grown-up goslings start to swim solo in the pond without parents as chaperones.  But, they still miss them.  While the older geese tend the younger siblings swimming across the other side of the bank, they would wait patiently for them to land safely in the water.  Searching around the circle in the pond, they grew anxiously and sadly for their own parents.  It’s not here, and it’s not there!  Oops, Where are they?   

8.    Is it the keen sense of smell they possess particularly that they finally found their own parents somewhere in the pond?  It’s a big question.  The curiosity triggers the murmuring among the audience.   “We need the experts in the fields of telecommunication or animal pheromone to analyze the technical spectrum.” 


Q & A – there are no shortage of professionals among the audience to offer many interesting facts in medical and animal behavioral points of views.



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