Ducks and Geese Question

[Big_John]

ducks and geese are chauvinistic species. only the drakes and ganders are allowed to fly on the windward side of the chevron (weaker females get the leeward side). since the males are larger, their side of the chevron will be longer, although the # of ducks on each side is close.


on a related note, i'm drunk.


or..
geometrically, depending on the wind direction and windspeed relative to the flight speed of the birds, it seems like there would situations where it'd make sense for the leeward side of the chevron to be longer than the windward side.

[ichi]

LMAO^^^^^

ichi

[Hosakawa Tito]

We have a lot of Canadian geese, many living year round in our area. There is a coal fired electric plant near where I live on the Lake Erie shoreline that has a warm water discharge that keeps open water for them during the winter. They utilize my pasture and I enjoy watching them. From what I have read, they can fly much farther as a group in V formation because the lead bird breaks the air resistance and the rest have easier flying in the slipstream created. The lead bird does tire more quickly and will drop back and another will take the lead. Some claim that dominate females usually are the leaders. They definitely make quite a racket calling back and forth while in flight. I don't know why one side of the V formation is longer than the other, it isn't like that all the time, but it does happen quite frequently. Big John's explanation sounds logical though.