Goose art.

Crystal Moon, by Canada Goose

Air, water, light and cold.

More goose art.

Double White Hole, by Goose

Air, water, light, cold and sun.

How do they do this? Aha. Well, there’s beautiful ice, like this:

Ice Broken Up by the Wind

And there’s beautiful ice like this:

Ice Even More Broken Up By the Wind

The geese are why the ice is so varied. Here’s how it’s done. First, you swim around, because you’re a goose.

When it gets colder, you sleep by standing along the shore, in the water, thank you, because it’s warmer on the feet than the air.And then you nod off, because you’re a goose, and the lake freezes around you. Because you’re a goose, you panic, a little.

Works fine on the open water, and works fine when you’re stuck in the ice, too.

Geese: the world’s first icebreakers?

Here’s some goose art starting to gel again…

Notice the complex patterns of panic-driven air and splintered ice.

Here too…

There are even complex trails of bubbles leading through the ice, made by a goose on its escape path…

And what does it all make in the end? Stuff like this…

It breaks up in the wind to look like this…

…and this …

… and this …

So, folks, give thanks that Canada geese have decided to stay for the winter, because without them great beauty would be absent from the world. Note, we should stop coddling their eggs. What a thing to do to artists!

Read all about the goose control program here.