Sunday 11 December 2011

More geese roosting

With the weather continuing on the poor side of not very nice, I've been raiding my archives for photographs I took earlier. This second recent one of mine of Barnacle Geese roosting during the day on the mud at the head of Loch Indaal presents a nice little headache for unwary goose counters. Because of the reflections of the geese in the very shallow water on this calm day, one really does have to concentrate to only count the geese that are the right way up!
This photograph could also answer a question I've occasionally been asked. We know that geese stand on one leg because it is more comfortable, but from this photo how many are right-footed and how many are left-footed? I don't know because I've not checked. Anyone out there like to try........? And of course, it begs a second question which the photo can't help with. How often do they swap legs - if they do?
Malcolm

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