03/03/2026

Samuel Clifford

Location: Griffin GA

Date: 03/02/2026

Temperature: 70° F

Weather: Sunny/Cloudy

I was kayaking on a pond near Carver Rd in Griffin GA. It was then I noticed 10 Canada Geese in & around the pond in a large flock. Interestingly, although they were in a large group, they stayed in pairs. Every time a goose would distance itself from the flock it was in a pair. At no point did I notice a goose by itself. I never noticed any odd number of geese. Instead it was always 2, 4, 6, 8, or 10.

Interestingly, although they were grouped together I watched two groups of four split from each other. One group was pecking the grass for food. The other group, though, began heading towards them & when one of them noticed the others eating it lowered its head to be horizontal to the ground & then charged at the geese feeding.

The geese were seen swimming & creating a V-ripple behind them. They scarcely spoke except when I was approaching or when they began flying. Normally they’d peck at the grass/ground obviously searching for food while at least one goose would keep its head up almost certainly looking out for predators & danger.

Often times, some pairs would split off. In fact, a pair of geese must have left completely as two couldn’t be found & the flock was around eight. I watched two travel to the opposite side of the pond & heard them splashing. From my visual, it seemed they would ruffle their back feathers (tail, upper tail coverts, lower tail coverts, secondaries) & splash water onto themselves in what I suspect is an effort to clean themselves. These geese ended up rejoining another pair. Their feces I have noted on more than one occasion is dark green & cylindrical.

I got to watch a pair take flight. They both began to honk before one brought out its wings & started flapping violently, not getting very high above the water but instead actually being able to kick the water. They got perhaps 3–5 Ft above the water & then glided down to the opposite side of the pond.