Geese caught in cold weather
Numerous geese were chilling out on Lake Windsor last week, thanks to the unusually cold weather.
Bella Vista residents Tom and Kay Turnbaugh looked out on the lake early last Wednesday morning to see a group of approximately 80 birds sitting on the ice — and some appeared to be stuck in the ice. They weren’t sure the birds were alive at first, Kay Turnbaugh said.
They’re avid nature watchers, having watched birds all over the city, a fox den outside their kitchen window, a deer swimming across the lake and at least one mink, but this was a new sight.
“We’ve lived here since 1990; I’ve never seen anything like this,” Kay Turnbaugh said.
Kimberly Smith, distinguished professor of biological sciences with the University of Arkansas and an expert on avian life, said that geese and other waterfowl are very well adapted to survive the conditions.
“It’s unusual for them to get stuck in the first place,” Smith said. “Typically the ice freezes slowly enough that they can free themselves.”
A duck or goose, he said, is a very well-insulated animal, and their circulatory system is adapted to extreme cold. Their veins and arteries, he explained, run next to one another in a process called countercurrent flow, which helps to keep returning blood warm and keep body temperatures high.
Typically, he said, ducks and geese will swim around in open patches of water and keep moving to prevent the waters from freezing. Failing that, when their lakes and ponds are coated in ice, they’ll often migrate to other bodies of water that aren’t fully frozen, he said.
This often results in a stronger concentration of waterfowl at larger bodies of water, Smith said, like Beaver Lake and Lake Fayetteville, when smaller lakes and ponds freeze.
“If the big bodies of water freeze over, then it’s really stressful,” he said.
In this case, he said, any of the geese that may have been frozen into the lake were most likely swimming in open water to prevent freezing. If the temperature dropped too quickly, he said, they could have gotten stuck in the ice.
This is not common, he explained, and if anyone sees a situation where waterfowl have become stuck, a rescue attempt could prove dangerous. It would be safer, he said, to contact a professional, like an animal control officer or someone with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
Kay Turnbaugh said she was glad to see the birds moving around, stretching their wings and enjoying the morning sun, despite being concerned for them initially.
“They know what they’re doing,” she said, “but I sure didn’t.”