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Saturday, December 1, 2012

Why geese sleep in the water

I have a different number of geese sleeping on the river behind my house each night. Are they different flocks migrating through or just birds flying back and forth. Why do they sleep on the water? ~ Lansing, MI

The Canada Goose is a year round resident of mid-Michigan’s riverbanks, ponds, golf courses and farmlands. However the Canadian and Upper Peninsula geese do migrate down to the southern U.S. from September to November. They eat aquatic vegetation, grasses and grains. If one area freezes or their source of food is depleted, they fly to more hospitable grounds.


Geese and other waterfowl like to sleep in the water for safety.
Any predator coming toward them through the water would send vibrations and warn the birds of any danger approaching.

You may also see geese on the shoreline sleeping while they stand on one foot and one eye open. Always on the lookout for danger, the ability to sleep with only half a brain and one eye open is called unihemispheric slow-wave sleep (USWS).

1 comment:

Edoubts said...

Awesome article on birds.Thanks for sharing.