I thought it might be well to take a break from the terrible events occurring in Ukraine this week, and inject a little awe and wonder into our day. To that end, I chose to write about the incredible manner in which young Barnacle geese leave their nest.
The Barnacle goose is a resident of Greenland but occasionally wanders south in the winter into the Middle Atlantic states of the U.S. It's perhaps the most handsome of all the geese seen in North America.
One thing that makes Barnacle geese especially interesting is the manner in which their young are fledged. They're hatched on ledges high up on cliff faces, but their natural milieu lies in the water hundreds of feet below.
Watch this video to see the remarkable manner by which they get from the ledge to the water:
That any of them survive this first "flight" is surely one of the wonders of the animal kingdom.