I stopped on the edge of a field the other day where a large flock of geese was resting in a pasture with a farm pond. I like to watch/film geese landing, paragliding in and dangling their feet to create drag and teetering back and forth if its windy. Flock after flock kept coming in to join the couple hundred geese that were already in the field. There was a farm pond there and after a while I realized there were some unusual antics taking place in the water. The geese were treating it like a big bathtub where they would pile in to take turns bathing. I don't recall ever seeing geese take a bath, but they were doing some amazing things. I thought I would post a few of the photos because I'm not sure you would believe me if I just described it.
You can see, they throw up a whole lot more water than other birds, I guess because they are so large. Note the one in the middle with it's foot straight up in the air!
It must have been infectious because at times, they would all get crazy.
Here is another one going over upside down.
Look at the water this one is throwing off!
Yes, the two on the left are actually diving underwater. Some would go completely under.
Another upside downer.
If you compare this photo and the last one and look just to the right of the second bird from the left, you will see a disturbance in the water. In the last photo you can see that it is the wing of a bird just re-emerging from being underwater.
I could post many more, but you get the idea of how enthusiastic they are about bathing. Who knew?
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