Lopsided Formations

For whatever reason, formations of Canada geese fly directly overtop my house in both their northward migration and their southward migration.   I have written previously about how they often fly so low overtop me I feel that I might reach out and grab one by the bill.  They are also capable of calamitous noise and pooping copiously while in flight.  I may expand upon that some other day.

The fact that geese gather into and hold their distinctive V-shaped formations is pretty remarkable—especially when you consider that I cannot get even a single one of my two cats to follow me in any manner whatsoever.  Not even from room to room, let alone across a whole continent.

According to what I read at a Library of Congress website, geese fly in a V-formation for two reasons.  First, flying in such a formation conserves energy due to the fact that each bird flies slightly above the one directly in front—which reduces wind resistance.  The lead birds regularly fall back and allow others to take the foreword position so that the burden of breaking the way is shared by all. 

The second reason geese fall into this formation is probably due to the fact that the V offers all flyers a view of the flight path ahead of them.  This makes perfect sense.

I also began to notice (from observations while sitting in my hot tub) that one side of nearly every V-pattern that overflew my home was noticeably longer than the other.   Sometimes the right string of the pattern might be longer than the left.  The next skein might have a longer left side.

Why a lopsided pattern?  Why?

After watching flocks fly over me time and time again, the reason became clear why…one side had more birds on it that the other.

--Mitchell Hegman       NOTE:  Haha?