Geese are among the noisiest of birds, although, unlike many other birds, there is not that much variation in the sounds that geese make. A lot of the way that geese ‘speak’ is through their body language. On this page, we want to take a look at some of the goose sounds, as well as give you a little bit of an idea about how you can differentiate between each of them.
It All Comes Down to the Goose ‘Honk’ Sound
Everybody knows that geese honk, right? This is the classic goose sound. A short, sharp honk. It is incredibly loud too.
The interesting thing about the various goose breeds is that their honks will all sound completely different.
This is because the frequency of the honk will be dictated by the length of the neck.
If you have multiple geese breeds, then listen to them on occasion. While the honks may sound similar, they are completely different.
Since geese do not do much other than honk, you will need to really listen to what that honk sounds like, as well as their body language, to get an idea as to what they are thinking at that moment in time.
Threatening Goose Sounds
If the goose is under threat, or it is in the midst of a ‘fight’ then you may hear them make a loud and intense goose sound.
You can easily tell that they are making a threatening sound as it really does sound quite aggressive.
At the beginning, the honk will be slow, but as the goose becomes more agitated, the honk will become far louder.
Friendly Murmur
This is a honk that doesn’t really sound all that much like a honk unless you listen closely.
Many people report that as their goose becomes more familiar with them, they will have a low humming sound. It sounds very similar to a murmur. You may barely notice it.
The geese may also use this around other geese that they are friendly with too. This is one of those goose sounds that seems to appear a lot more frequently in the younger birds.
Mating Goose Call
The mating call, as the name suggests, is only going to be happening during the mating season. When this happens, the goose will lift their head up.
This will expose the neck. They will then let out some very loud and some very excited sounding honks. These goose honks will come out nice and fast at the start.
However, this is a sound which tends to tire geese out, and they slow the pace down near the end.
Basically, if you hear loud, excited honks coming from your geese during the mating season, then it is probably their mating call.
Softer ‘Unk’ Goose Sounds
If your goose is raising their young, then you will hear them make a sound that is very low in frequency.
Their young will respond in a slightly similar tone. This is just the parents and the children communicating with one another.
This may not actually be a sound that you hear all much, mostly because it is so quiet. A lot of parents do not ‘talk’ to their children when there are humans in close vicinity too.
Excited Goose Call Sounds
The excited call is similar in sound to the mating call. Perhaps the only real way to tell the difference between the two is to work out whether the goose is in the mating season or not.
You may not hear the excited call if you raise your own geese. This isn’t because your geese will never get excited.
They will.
This is a sound that is mostly heard when the geese beat another flock of geese for territory. Since your geese are likely to be familiar with one another and regard themselves as the same flock, this probably won’t happen.
The only time that you may hear it with domesticated geese is when they fight and one goose comes out as victorious.
Low Pitched Goose Honk Sound
If your geese are feeding, then they will let out a low pitched honk. The goose honk sound isn’t really a call as such.
It is just a sound that geese use to let each other know where they are. It helps the geese to have their own specific feeding location, and it also helps to provide a little bit of protection for the geese.
Not a sound that you will hear that much from domesticated geese as they tend not to spread about as much to feed.
“I am About to Fly” Goose Sound
If you raise geese, then this may not actually be a sound you hear all that much. This is because your geese may not be taking flight all that often. However, it is a common sound among wild geese.
When a goose is ready to fly, it will lift its head up to the point where their chin is completely raised. They may also move their head from side to side as they do this.
As soon as their chin is completely raised, the goose will let out a long, but slow, honk. The rest of the geese will probably take flight shortly afterward.
If you do hear this sound, then it is likely that it will be coming from the ‘leader’ i.e. the goose that determines where and when the geese fly off.
This means that it is more a sound that you are going to be hearing coming from your older birds.
In-Flight
This isn’t really a sound you will hear all that much, because the geese are going to be up high.
However, if you could get close to a goose while it is flying, you will hear a low-frequency rumbling sound.
This is the sound of their wings hitting the wind.
Geese Body Language
As we said at the start; you will probably not want to be paying attention to the goose sounds all that much. It can take a while to become familiar with what each sound means.
If you are hearing your geese make sounds that you have never heard before, then look at their body language. You will be able to work out whether your geese are being aggressive or friendly from that.
Related article:
– Where do geese sleep?
– Do geese eat fish?
