Why don’t geese get wet?

We’ve been noticing that our students are keen to watch the birds out our window. We’ve been trying to include some “birdie” information at our science centre. Coincidentally it has fit right in with our study of animals and adaptations in fall/winter as we’ve been talking about geese and their flight south. We watched a video of a goose preening itself. The purpose of this is to spread the oil all over their different feathers so when they go into the cold, wet water, they don’t get wet. To show them, we did an experiment where we covered a piece of paper with oil. We then sprayed that piece of paper with water and noticed the water rolled right off. The other piece, with no oil, allowed the water to soak right in.