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Birds and Bees?

Summer, 2006 - After the molting season ended in July, new geese began to visit the lake again. One afternoon, while a large flock of geese was feeding on corn, I heard what sounded like a swarm of bees. This always gets my attention, as I am allergic to bee stings. Following the sound, I tracked it to a particular little goose with a skinny neck. It was apparently so happy to be eating the cracked corn that it made a continuous, loud buzzing noise—akin to a purring lion cub. "Buzzby" was an easy choice for its name; I can always tell when the goose is visiting our flock.

Buzzby does pay a bit of a price for its fondness for cracked corn. Typically the larger geese take the cracked corn, leaving the rest of the flock to feed on whole kernel corn. But Buzzby wants the cracked corn too much to follow that rule. Sometimes a large goose will grab hold of Buzzby's side, and due to the size difference, Buzzby can only run in a circle around the larger goose while trying to get away. It's slightly reminiscent of a pair's figure skating maneuver, just with extra honking sound effects thrown in.

This photo of Buzzby was particularly difficult to get, as it seldom visits our lake and also does not walk about alone very often. Click here for larger image.

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