Why do Geese Honk?

While goose hunting you may often find yourself hearing the birds before you actually see them.  Myself being the kind of person that loves to ask questions, I would often find myself wondering “why do they honk while in a large formation?” while they were homing in on my spread of decoys.  I now have the answer; the honk is a locator call that the geese use to “see” where everyone is in the formation.  It is used to coordinate the change in lead bird when one gets tired, as well as when a bird falls behind.  It is also used before the geese are about take off the flock is brought together and it takes off as one unit.  Contrary to popular belief and countless leadership lessons, geese do not honk to encourage the other geese to keep flying.