Gordon Coleman, age 8, of Concord, N.H., for his question:
HOW MANY KINDS OF GEESE ARE THERE?
A goose is a web footed bird that is closely related to the swan and the duck. A goose is larger than a duck but it is smaller than a swan. All together there are about 25 different kinds of geese living in various parts of the world.
In the United States and Canada you'll find 13 different kinds of wild geese. They range from 20 to 40 inches long and have wide wings.
Geese are migratory birds that fly north in the summer and then head south as winter approaches. Some geese fly as far north as the Arctic Circle and some fly as far south as Mexico.
Geese fly in groups, often in great V shaped formations. They fly fast, honking loudly, and have been known to fly as high as 29,000 feet above sea level.
In addition to being excellent fliers, geese are also good swimmers.
On the land, geese can walk better than either swans or ducks because their legs are longer and nearer the middle of their bodies.
Geese have heavy layers of down under their dense plumage. They rub their feathers with an oil produced by a gland near their tails. This oil waterproofs their bodies. But oil from oil slicks created by ships on inland waters may soak their feathers so that the geese are unable to fly. Sometimes this causes them to starve.
Geese have long lives. Sometimes they reach more than 30 years of age in captivity.
Geese eat grains and vegetables and sometimes insects and small water creatures. In some parts of the world, they do much harm to the wheat crop. Farmers often hire men to keep them away.
Generally speaking, geese are cautious, intelligent and difficult to hunt. Some feed only in wide stretches of water, marshes or fields where hunters find it difficult to hide. A few members of the flock seem to stand guard against any possible danger while the remainder of the flock feeds.
Farmers raise many geese in their barnyards. Tame geese rank among the most intelligent of the many kinds of domesticated birds. For this reason, many children keep them as pets.
Domestic geese are the descendants of the graylag goose of Europe. They grow much larger than their wild ancestors, but have almost lost the ability to fly.
The best known wild goose of North America is the Canada goose. It has a broad white band across its throat and cheeks. It ranges from Labrador and the Arctic Ocean to Mexico.
The Canada goose builds it nest on a low mound in a marsh. The nest is made of grass and leaves and is lined with down.
Snow geese are white birds with black wing tips. They range from the Arctic coast of northeastern Asia and of North America to lower California and Mexico.
The blue goose is a variety of the snow goose but has a bluish gray body.
Another goose is the brant. It migrates south to the eastern coast of the United States from the Arctic islands and the coast of Greenland.