In October geese begin their migration from Canada. Their migration is a sign that winter is coming. They fly 40 miles per hour, and sometimes, to prevent bad weather, 60 miles per hour.

When they find their landing area, they land (of course). Then they mate. Sometimes two males will fight over a female. After they mate, they will stay together until one or both die. They may give their lives to the other mate. Finally they fly back to Canada. They have goslings. In less than an hour after the nest is built the first egg is laid. One egg appears every one-and-a-half days now. There are usually from two to nine eggs. During this period the gander guards close by. He threatens even other geese by giving a threatening hiss if they come near the nest. Unlike other birds, whose nest job is shared by males, the female does all the hatching, which may take from twenty five to twenty eight days. Two days before hatching, peeping sounds come from the eggs. Inside the egg, each unborn gosling has a sharp egg tooth on the tip of its tiny black bill. Even though a crack may appear, it takes two days to break out. It has moist, wet feathers. The female carefully hovers over the feathers for the next twenty-four hours until they are dry. The parents stay close to the goslings until the goslings know they are their parents and that they are geese. For geese, unlike most other animals, they are born not knowing what are. Since goslings don't know who are their parents, they will think that the first thing they see is their parent. A man once got a problem that many goslings adopted him as a parent, and they followed him even until they were adult birds!

The gander leads the goslings as they swim the female at the end. They swim around, showing the goslings their home. The goslings double their weight in a week. They learn their "way of life" by copying their parents. And as you may know, their parents teach them tip-diving and what food to look for. The goslings have many enemies. But a day-old gosling can dive and swim pretty deep, and if they have trouble, there are always their parents to defend them.

When the gosling are half grown, their parents molt, losing their flight feathers. They may not fly. It takes about ninety-five days for the geese to build the nest, incubate the eggs, and raise their goslings to their flying age. Finally they take off together into the air.