Courtship Rituals

It is interesting to watch the courtship of Canada Geese. After a flight of over a thousand miles, arriving to find snow over the pond, they take turns at stretching out the neck and retracting it back into an s-shape.  There is biting  of the feathers and neck, flapping of the wings. These two were the ones from the previous post and are  engaged in a ritual but not mating.

In the first photo the gander is “goosing” the goose. Probably where that term “goosing” originated. It means to pinch.

They walk together a few steps.

I apologise for the poor exposures. I may fix them and re-insert newly edited ones. Then he reaches out and bites her feathers while she turns her head away.

Now he reaches out with his neck  but no contact is made.

And here is another pair later on…he seems to be making a pass and does this a couple of times then they walk a few steps before he tries again…

Next time he is not so subtle.

I will leave the rest up to your interpretations. I see this behaviour repeated all over the pond.