Canada Goose mating

These pictures were taken on April 9th, 2009 in our back yard. They show the mating ritual that Canada Geese do when they mate. It starts with one or both of them dunking their heads in the water as shown in the first six pictures until the male finally mounts her. The male grabs the female by the feathers on the back of the head and the female is temporarily submerged. Once they've mated their heads point straight up in celebration and the male starts wildly honking telling the world how good it feels. The ritual continues with first, the female doing another series of head dunks and then spreading her wings wide and flapping them. Then the male does the same ritual of head dunking and wing flapping. All these pictures are in the order they were taken.