This is Bird Note. Barnacle geese are stunning birds. Their feathers are boldly

patterned in black, white, and silver. In Europe, huge flocks gather in pastures and mudflats where

the geese feast on grasses and moss,

but not barnacles. So where did they get that name? The answer harkens back to a medieval

myth. Barnacle geese have wintered in the British Isles for millennia.

People from the Middle Ages observed that adult birds would turn up in autumn, then vanish

come spring.

Since locals never found them with goslings or eggs, they scoured land and sea for an

explanation of how the geese reproduced.

What they found were barnacles, ones that have a large white shell attached to a long gray stalk.

To early naturalists, these barnacles looked suspiciously like a bird egg growing from a goose neck.

Putting two and two together,

great minds deduced that the mysterious birds must hatch from barnacles.

Modern science eventually debunked the myth

that geese spontaneously generate from marine crustaceans.

They migrate to the Arctic to breed, but the name stuck.

So even today, barnacle geese tell a tale as old as medieval times.

For bird note, I'm Ariana Rimmel.