How high do geese fly? What are the highest flying birds and how high do they fly?

Question

Just saw some geese flying overhead and they were tiny dots. Had to use the binocs to see them clear.

Answer 1

It's a size thing -- the bigger the goose the higher you fly

Answer 2

How High Do Geese Fly

Answer 3

Canadian geese have been seen as high as 9000 feet.

Bar-headed Geese and Demoiselle Cranes may actually fly at heights of up to almost 30,000 ft. - that's more than 5 miles above sea-level because they have to cross the Himalaya Mountains.

Most birds fly below 500 feet except during migration. There is no reason to expend the energy to go higher -- and there may be dangers, such as exposure to higher winds or to the sharp vision of hawks. When migrating, however, birds often do climb to relatively great heights, possibly to avoid dehydration in the warmer air near the ground. Migrating birds in the Caribbean are mostly observed around 10,000 feet, although some are found half and some twice that high. Generally long-distance migrants seem to start out at about 5,000 feet and then progressively climb to around 20,000 feet. Just like jet aircraft, the optimum cruise altitude of migrants increases as their "fuel" is used up and their weight declines. Vultures sometimes rise over 10,000 feet in order to scan larger areas for food (and to watch the behavior of distant vultures for clues to the location of a feast). Perhaps the most impressive altitude record is that of a flock of Whooper Swans which was seen on radar arriving over Northern Ireland on migration and was visually identified by an airline pilot at 29,000 feet. Birds can fly at altitudes that would be impossible for bats, since bird lungs can extract a larger fraction of oxygen from the air than can mammal lungs.

Answer 4

This question has been asked and answered many times. Try a search before asking such a question. Songbirds migrate from 500 to 1000 feet. There are geese and swans that fly at 20000 feet. The record altitude for a bird is close to 30000 feet.

Answer 5

The highest-flying migrant birds are bar-headed geese. They migrate over Mount Everest, which is above 29.000 feet, on their way from the lowlands of India to their nesting grounds in Tibet. They can make this trip of over 1000 miles in a day with a tailwind.

The highest-flying bird ever recorded was a Ruppell's griffon; on November 29, 1975, one was sucked into a jet engine 37,900 feet above the Ivory Coast--more than a mile and a half higher than the summit of Mount Everest.

Answer 6

I believe up to 25,000 feet (for geese). It's extraordinary.

Here it is...
"...the greatest altitude documented as of the mid 1980's was a Ruppell's griffon, an African vulture, struck by an airliner at 37,000 feet."
"...The highest flying bird (routinely) is the bar-headed goose which flies 25,000 feet above the ground."

Answer 7

They usually fly from 100 to 1,000 feet depending on wind and disturbance from people. When migrating they fly much higher, finding an altitude with a wind that is going their direction. Geese have been seen as high as 9,000 feet.
They fly in a V formation to cut back on turbulence.

Answer 8

Vultures fly above 19,000 ft

Migrating birds can fly as high 20,000 ft

Whooper Swans fly at 29,000 ft! WOW

Answer 9

They don't fly that high. As far as I know the highest flying bird is the eagle. It can fly and soar so high that you can't even see it.
But, I wouldn't want either to crap on me.
Think of the force and the splat....lol

Answer 10

Slk, good to see your perky today!!! Why are there a handful that fly on the outside of the V??? (and not violation)