xkcd.WTF!?

Explanation ➲

Migrating refers to the changing of a habitat, which happens every year with birds like geese that travel long distances to avoid cold seasons and get back to the food in the summer time. When geese fly to their new habitat, they tend to fly in a very clear V formation. The V formation improves the efficiency of flying birds, particularly over long migratory routes. All the birds except the first fly in the upwash from one of the wingtip vortices of the bird ahead. The upwash assists each bird except for the "leading" one in supporting its own weight in flight, saving them up to 20% of the energy needed.

It should be noted that geese do have family structures with adult geese in "alpha" positions, but not a strict ranking order. An individual's position in formation flights is coincidental and constantly changing, so that the goose at the point of the formation can pull back and rest in the V wings while others "lead" the skein. Popular earlier beliefs about an "alpha goose" heading a formation for the entire flight is a myth, easily disproved by watching geese formations in flight.

This comic shows such a formation with 20 geese, with several geese and areas in the V formation labeled, giving different roles to the geese and assigning these areas a new meaning. See the table below.

Apart from a "twin engine" goose in the bottom right arm of the V the only part of the formation that would not normally be seen is Kevin, who flies off at a 45-degree angle. In that direction there is no aerodynamic help from the other birds, and in the title text the rest of the geese also exclaim, "Dammit, Kevin" when he (again?) tells them that he has a great new idea for a migration (maybe referring to the new direction). This is either a reference to the fact that migrating birds manage to consistently arrive in the same general area every year, or to the way that vacations are sometimes suggested (by humans): "I thought of an idea for a vacation..." This was only the second time the name Kevin was used in xkcd for a fictive person, see more in this trivia.

Table of labels

Name	Explanation
Head Goose (4th in line to the British throne)	Supposedly, this goose is in line to become the newest monarch of the United Kingdom after the deaths of the three (humans) who were ahead of it at the time of the comic’s publication (Charles, Prince of Wales; William, Duke of Cambridge; Prince George of Cambridge[1]). In actuality the fourth in line to the British throne was then Princess Charlotte of Cambridge. As of the death of the Queen, in 2022, she gained one place and the new fourth in line became Prince Louis of Wales (her younger brother). In North America, the best-known goose migration is that of Canada geese to the US east coast. Canada used to be part of the British Empire and remains a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, so a "Canadian" goose would be well situated to stand within the succession (excepting, of course, for the fact that it's a goose). As the main rules of succession to the British throne are being Protestant and directly related to Sophia of Hanover, who died in 1714, the line of succession is long. Very long. Though there probably aren't any geese in that list (even Catholic ones), the head goose being deemed the fourth in line (or the fourth in line being deemed a head goose) may be mocking the concept of the line of succession and/or any perception of the arbitrary nature of its membership.
Quarterback	A quarterback is a position in American football, usually placed in the second row of an American football formation, just like the associated goose. On nearly every non-kicking play, the quarterback is the player who stands behind the center and receives the ball to start the play. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually considered the leader of the team, and is often responsible for calling the play.
Comptroller	A comptroller is a position in many corporations and some governments. An officer of this title is responsible for the oversight of financial operations and ensuring that accounting is conducted accurately.
Migration abort goose	This might be a reference to launch abort capsules used in rockets to safely land astronauts in the case of a critical stage failure. Or it could be operated like an abort button aborting the entire migration for all geese.
Twin-Engine Model	This goose has two tails offset on each side of the center of the goose, instead of one tail in the middle like the rest. The "tails" also extend beyond the wings, which makes it look like a Twin-Engine aircraft, which has two engine nacelles: one on each wing instead of one incorporated into the single fuselage. Randall later made eight other plane/bird combinations like this in 1824: Identification Chart.
CIA Informant	A person, usually a criminal, that surreptitiously provides information to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), a foreign intelligence agency of the United States federal government. If these geese are from Canada, the CIA might have inserted an informant to be kept up to date on their activities. However, it is unlikely that the CIA would have great interest in the migratory patterns of geese.[citation needed] This is also potentially a reference to the Birds aren't Real satirical conspiracy theory.
Backups	These are geese that are not used in the formation so they can replace other geese in their positions in case they have problems performing their task. This may also be a pun/joke about technology/data "migrations" where backups should be taken liberally due to risk of data loss.
Shock Front	A shock front is the front boundary of a shock wave created by either a sonic boom or another explosion in a fluid/gas. It can also refer to the shock wave itself. A V-shaped shock-wave called a 'bow shock', similar in appearance to the V-shaped goose formation, is generated by a supersonic object. Since geese fly subsonically in normal circumstances [citation needed], they do not generate a shock wave. But of course, this set of geese may be somewhat different considering the involvement of CIA and stealth technology.
Missing Valence Geese	In Chemistry, valence electrons are the electrons in the outermost "layer" which change places when chemical reactions happen. As there is an optimal number of electrons in a layer, if there are missing valence electrons, atoms which can fill in these gaps tend to react with the atoms having the missing electrons. In case of "electron sharing" (aka covalent bond) molecules result from such an encounter. The comic suggests a second geese formation that has proper "valence geese" in the appropriate position could bond (=merge) with this one into a larger formation. A normal geese V formation like the one in the comic has one side longer than the other and this is possibly Randall's explanation for the phenomenon. In reality, geese do form V-shaped flocks, since the rear geese can profit aerodynamically from the vortices created by the front geese, and that way the overall flock requires less energy. So there is actually some evolutionary sense for additional geese to fill the "valence holes". It is thus a little weird that there are two backup geese close to these valence vacancies, as they should then have filled them up...
Stealth cargo being escorted	The formation is forming a protective surrounding around an empty space in the middle which in a military formation could contain protected cargo. As there is no cargo visible in the geese formation, it is titled "stealth". This would be a nice conspiracy theory to spread.
Kevin	An obnoxious blowhard who insists on trying new, poorly thought-out ideas, completely ignorant no one else in the group wants to try it out with him. "Kevin" is an internet meme (especially in Europe) where it's the stereotypical name of the village idiot. Kevin is usually urged to stop talking, ironically congratulated, etc. It’s due to the fact that this name was given mainly in low socioeconomic class (so Kevins will probably have poor education) and possibly because it was way too common around the ’90s. Around the time of this comic's release Kevin was a "go-to name" for Randall, seen in 1719: Superzoom as well as What-If #83 as a placeholder name for the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. The name may also be a reference to the intelligent and playful bird Kevin, from the Disney/Pixar movie Up, or Kevin from South Park. “Dammit, Kevin” may be a reference to the meme Moon Moon, a mentally-challenged wolf whose pack (along with other animals) responds to his strange actions with “God dammit, Moon Moon”.