[Side Note: Today, I was pleasantly surprised to find MSFS2024 already installed for my Xbox/TV. Of course, it says I cannot use it yet. Apparently, my teen has coaxed one of the parents...🙂...to extend the Xbox Game Pass subscription and has overnight installed the MSFS2024, hopefully ready to go for me on the opening day... (hmm...all these without my permission) ...Oh well...who is complaining...🙂...]
As the unique sensations of the Fall season are slowly and steadily permeating the atmosphere around here, and simultaneously foreboding the reality of the harsh winter just up ahead, I am thinking today about the migratory birds of Chicago, especially the Canada Geese that have become my friends over the summer months, abundantly seen around the local lakes, parks, and ponds that I regularly visit. From decades ago, I recall, around this time of the year (Oct/Nov), these Canada Geese would be getting ready to fly south to warmer regions of the country, leaving the bitter cold winter season of Chicago behind. I had once witnessed a striking occurrence that I'll never forget. Next to a small lake, on a large grass field, every evening, I would see thousands of these Canada Geese huddled together, as if in serious deliberations. Then one evening, when I came by, they had all vanished except for a few bewildered stragglers left behind...🙂...I'm quite sure now that these Geese were actually conducting some sort of flight-planning all those evenings, factoring the ORIG and DEST cities of their migration route, into their on-body FMS...🙂... Then, having agreed upon a predetermined date and time of departure, they all must have taken off en-masse, leaving behind a few that apparently failed to report on time...🙂...

In recent years, I see more and more of these Canada Geese choosing to stay back here in winter, willing to tough it out through the freezing temperatures rather than undertaking the ritual of a long journey south. As I dug into the facts a bit, I found indeed some truth to it. Researchers, with the aid of GPS trackers (placed onboard the geese...🙂...), have determined that, previously, Chicago's migratory Canada Geese did fly south from Upper Midwest to spend the winter in warmer areas of e.g., Tennessee and Arkansas, or even further south in Alabama and Florida. However, over the past decade, more and more have been choosing to stay around in Chicago year-round. The Canada Geese, smart thinkers as they are, choose where to spend the winter based on trade-offs between climate conditions, food availabilities, and predatory risks. Metropolitan areas offer safety from hunters and predators, whereas rural areas pose risk from hunters (Geese being extremely popular as game species), and predatory animals. As winters here have certainly become milder, compared to what I personally recall from decades ago, the climate is becoming less of a factor for these birds to leave the urban comfort of the city during the winter months...🙂... 

The Geese, including Canada Geese, are remarkable creatures of nature. Over decades, I've been quite familiar with these, in the local settings, so, here, via this post and flight, I've tried to read their minds a bit more. They are tough, adorable, no-non-sense type birds, and are not afraid of humans (I have learned my lesson by getting a bit too close to them once....🙂...). I've often seen these birds crossing a busy road, and nonchalantly staying put in the middle, neither budging forward nor backward, while blocking off vehicular traffic in both directions. Clearly, they have scant regard for (human) traffic signals...🙂....

They love to be around water. Below, when you see my last few images, you'll see why they might travel 400 miles from Chicago to be in a place of abundant water like "Old Hickory Lake" in far-off Tennessee. In summer, the most stupendous marathon-runners that they are, they may fly an incredible ~3000 miles from Chicago to the northern reaches of Canadian Tundra. Apparently, in 1960s, there were hardly any such Geese around the Chicagoland area (considered almost extinct and engendered species), but now they are thriving in Chicago numbering into millions. Numerous manmade neighborhood ponds, trimmed grass fields, plentiful food, and milder winter months are the reasons. Of course, the (Great) Lake Michigan is also a haven for these birds (see my earlier post about Lake Shore Drive, if you like). 

The Canada Geese typically fly between 3,000 ft and 10,000 ft (recall Sully and Skiles's (Miracle on Hudson) U.S. Airways A320 Flight 1549, that was struck by a flock of Canada Geese at about 2,900 ft, instantly disabling the Jet engines), but the geese have been observed to fly as high as 29,000 ft. A specific type of geese, the Bar-Headed Geese, incredibly, are known to fly over summits around Mount Everest during migration. All geese fly meticulously always in a V-shaped pattern (I see these V-shaped geese flights often here around this time of the year; a uniquely peaceful and soulful sight of a cold and bleak winter evening), each bird known to fly slightly above the bird in front to break wind resistance, taking turns for the leader role, falling back when they get tired. Also, most remarkably, these birds are known for their ability to sleep while flying, a phenomenon now understood to be "un-hemispheric" sleep (half of the brain alert and the other half at rest) during their high-altitude long-haul migration flights (I wish I could do so during my extra-long-haul virtual flights...🙂...).

So, here we go, on my (trusty) MSFS/Blackbird DHC2 Beaver, as I track just one of the (many) southernly routes of Chicago's Canada Geese, ~400 miles directly south, to one of their favorite (winter) destinations, the Old Hickory Lake (reservoir) in Tennessee, 25 miles northeast of Nashville. The Lake is the primary storage and dam of the massive Cumberland River. In my final set of images, you'll be able to appreciate the complex and interlocked waterway system of this region (see also VFR Map inset), that has become a favorite winter destination of the Canada Geese that choose to fly south from Chicagoland.

I fly here steady at 5,000 ft, direct GPS, just as the crow flies (eh...I mean as the Goose flies...🙂...). The flight felt delightful (see images) despite being somewhat monotonous and mountain-free (the only en-route highlight was sighting of the Ohio River, shot #12, in Indiana). As I flew across the flatlands of midwest reaching the Old Hickory Lake as the sun was setting beautifully on the waters of the Lake and the River (see images), I was filled with a genuine sense of contentment and finality, similar to what the Canada Geese must be feeling on their arrival, after the (same) long flight from Chicago.

Hope you enjoy this collection of my images, mimicking the flight and mood of the migratory Canada Geese...from Chicago to Tennesse...!

Thanks for viewing...! Happy flights...!

Great shots, P_7878. The good ole Beaver is a true marvel and your excellent pictures prove it. Luckily you had no direct encounter with one of them geese 😉😉

5 minutes ago, bernd1151 said:

Great shots, P_7878. The good ole Beaver is a true marvel and your excellent pictures prove it. Luckily you had no direct encounter with one of them geese 😉😉

Thanks a lot, bernd...and yes, I have had some direct encounters ....🙂...these guys may look adorable but are surely not to be messed around, especially when their baby geese (goslings) are around....🙂...

15 minutes ago, P_7878 said:

They are tough, adorable, no-non-sense type birds, and are not afraid of humans (I have learned my lesson by getting a bit too close to them once....🙂...).

 

Plenty to think about and some beautiful images too.

Very nice shots! 😉 

Edited October 5, 20241 yr by Alaska738

Thanks for showing those fine shots with that beautiful lightning..👍

cheers 😉

John, Will, pmplayer: Many thanks for the kind comments, as always...🙂...

Cheers...!