Larger birds generally fly faster than smaller ones, with ducks and geese typically cruising around 40 or 50 miles per hour. Hawks, ravens, and larks have been measured between 22 and 28 miles per hour, smaller birds like flycatchers at 10 to 17. In a typical ten-hour day of sustained flight during the fall migration, hawks, crows, and smaller birds cover between 100 and 250 miles, while ducks and geese can cover as many as 500. Various subspecies of Canada geese are found throughout the entire United States and Canada. The birds are famous for their loyalty.
Pairs mate for life.
Unlike most other species, the parents stay with their young during the nesting season, the southward migration, the first wintering over, and the return trip back north, at which point the yearlings separate to find nesting sites of their own. Typically, the geese fly during clear nights, taking off at dusk and landing at dawn, to feed and rest. The familiar V-shape is built for aerodynamics. The signature honking, which we sometimes first mistake for a distant pack of baying hounds, is believed to be both a means of encouragement and a way to keep the flock in formation. Anyone living in the north holds clear images of geese flying south.