Canadian Geese (Honkers)

I have had relationships with Canadian Geese for years, mostly of the tumultuous nature.  My family has camped at Fair Haven Beach State Park in upstate New York for about forty years.  Every summer, we would take walks around Sterling Pond to go swimming in Lake Ontario, fish along the channel, or watch the sun set over the water.  Every summer we would get honked at and chased by Canadian Ganders protecting their young and step in the goose feces that covered the shore of the pond.  Canadian Geese are recognizable because of their black neck with a white "chinstrap."  Adults are fairly large birds: over two feet tall, weighing 12 pounds on average.  Their body is covered in brown feathers, speckling into a white belly.  When they started to infiltrate the campground in greater numbers, they became a management issue for the park.  Loud noises were played over an intercom throughout the area to deter the birds.  Different plants were used that the geese supposedly didn't enjoy.  My family and I just started to walk a bit farther from the shore and run whenever one approached us. 

I identified this flying V of Canadian Geese yesterday morning (June 3rd) at about 6:50 a.m. in Memorial Park.  This area has a creek where the geese often bathe and tons of grassy fields where the geese feed.  While binoculars confirmed my thoughts, the honking sound was so familiar to me that I didn't really have to look.  It was a fairly sunny and room temperature day.  For one of the first times in years, I didn't cover my head to protect it from poop as birds flew over me.