I have mentioned this in passing before (though possibly not here), but I am feeling moved about it again.  Canada geese are really ... well, let's just say that if you grew up firmly believing in geese who flew south for the winter, you would be sorely disappointed by these.

Now that it's fall, they do seem to have some vague notion that they should be doing something.  Flying.  Somewhere.  So you will see long skeins of them V-ing across the sky in proper goose fashion.  So far, so good.  The problem comes in if you watch them for a little while.

This V is flying vigorously in a southwesterly direction.  Over there, another V is coming ... going northwest.  They pass each other, honking happily, and about 10 peel off from one V to join the other.  10 or so more take off entirely on their own, veering around until they're heading almost straight north.  I guess you get to pick whose navigator you like best!

Eventually, they start to circle - and will land on the river.  The same river they took off from - and probably not all that far from where they started, either.  They do this for the next couple of months, on into the winter (at which point, I can only guess that it's become calisthenics, not migration).

On the other hand, it does have some benefits.  Next spring, they'll have a head start on housekeeping over any geese foolish enough to actually buy into that rumor that they are supposed to go south.