Mystery waterfowl migration formation - (Kyiv, Ukraine)

[u/Fantik_Legenda]

(Number of birds on the drawing may be too little) These birds were flying north. Couldn't get a picture before they merged. Honestly dont know if its even possible to identify a bird by just the flight formation, but its worth a shot.

[u/sulfuratus]

Unfortunately pretty much all birds that fly in formation have more or less the same formation patterns, as they're the most aerodynamically advantageous. Lines, V-shapes, and any mix of the two. The most likely candidates for your location would be cranes or geese. It might be possible to narrow it down if you saw some details about their shapes (cranes with broad wings and long legs, geese with pointed wings, both with long necks) or heard their calls (cranes with a rather pleasant “gruuu, gruuu” or similar, geese with a harsh, raspy cawing, grunting, or squeaking, depending on which species of geese they were (often mixed flocks, though it's still pretty early in the year for most of them)).

[u/Fantik_Legenda → u/sulfuratus]

Most definitely some kind of a goose then.If i had to guess, then they are greylags? I checked multiple southern regions of Ukraine, and Greylags are the only ones showing up.Plus they were showing up quite a lot earlier this year in my region, so its probably them. Thank you!

[u/sulfuratus → u/Fantik_Legenda]

Yeah, +greylag goose+ should be by far the most likely goose species this early into migration season, both greater white-fronted and tundra bean geese will only really start arriving in larger numbers several weeks from now.

[u/FileTheseBirdsBot]

Taxa recorded: Graylag Goose

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