Emperor Geese (Courtship)

Description:

Though heavily zoomed and cropped, I wanted to add these to show some rarely seen courtship behavior. In the first photo, you can see two geese that appear to be in courtship on the left. They raised their necks up high while facing eachother, they then dipped their heads back down. I only saw them do this a couple times and they they return to regular posture like the others. They are often seen in large numbers at this location, and can be heard honking from several hundred yards away.

Habitat:

Icy bay (Women's Bay) about 15-20 minutes outside of the city of Kodiak. Many were curled up in the water, but some found some dry land to perch on in the form of small islands. I don't often see them on the beach or the tidal flats at low tide. They seem to prefer being a little further from the shore or the road.