More excitement! Bright and early this morning Mother and Father Goose showed off their 4 newly hatched goslings. The backyard was alive with activity as the Canada Goose family was joined by Mama Mallard and her 11 ducklings. Congrats to Mother Goose who incubated her eggs in an open nest for 28 days through rain, cold, and storms.
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Here are the three goslings with Dad--all grown up with their full Canada Goose coloring. It seems like only yesterday there were five fluffs of grey down. Two disappeared within the first couple of weeks, but Mother and Father Goose deserve kudos for their diligent parenting of the remaining three. Now the babies are big, healthy geese, ready to make their way in the world.
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The Canada Goslings are about 6 weeks old and almost grown. You can see the beginnings of their adult coloring around the tail. Even though the three youngster are almost as big as their parents, Mom and Dad still go everywhere with them and keep a watchful eye. It's a relief that they've escaped the dangers of the wild and grown from little fluffs of down to robust juveniles. That's a tribute to the diligence of Goose parents--and maybe a tiny bit to the nutritious birdseed and tender grass in my backyard.
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The three remaining goslings are now about 3 1/2 weeks old and have grown to the size of ducks. The whole family visits several times a day to forage under the bird feeders. Even though the goslings are showing a little more independence, Mother and Father Goose still keep a watchful eye on their brood.
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I haven't seen the goose family in the backyard for a few days, so I was a little worried. But this morning they made a rare foray into the front yard. The three remaining goslings appear to be doing well and growing by leaps and bounds. They are about 2 1/2 weeks old now.
This is what they looked like when they were first hatched so you can see how much they've grown.
Mother and Father Goose are ever vigilant and take good care of their babies so I'm hoping these three will stay safe.
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Some days there doesn't seem to be much happening in the yard, but yesterday I was amazed at the activity. We had a nice early morning rain and all sorts of hungry creatures showed up. The deer grazed around the lake and a Heron and a couple of ducks looked for a meal.
The geese family came to forage under the feeders.
A nicely camoflagued rabbit nibbled grasses in the natural area by the lake.
A squirrel hoped to raid the mealworm dish.
And a vivid anole showed off his dewlap.
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It was a week ago that I first spotted the 5 newly hatched Canada Goslings. Sadly, there are only three left. It's hard to say what happened to the other two--maybe despite the vigilance of the parents, a predator got them or maybe they were ill. Canada Geese grow quickly so you can see how they've changed in just a week. I'm hoping the these downy babies will stay safe.
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Today Mother and Father Goose brought their 5 newly hatched goslings to my yard. Aren't these downy babies precious--and smart, too. They quickly learned the art of foraging under the bird feeders. I was right to suspect the goose hanging out all alone meant his mate was on the nest. So even though it's sad that goose I was watching had to abandon her nest, I'm thrilled to see these five.
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I've been sad since the Mother Goose abandoned her nest a few days ago. But today, I couldn't supress a wild hope that there may be goslings yet. This lone Canada goose has been hanging around this end of the lake for a couple of days. Since they're usually seen in pairs, I'm wondering if he's alone because his mate is on the nest somewhere near by. I've got my fingers crossed that's the case and in several weeks I'll be writing about baby geese.
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I've been hoping since Monday to have happy news of baby goslings, but it looks like that isn't going to happen. It's been a rough few days for the Mother Goose. Yesterday I heard a furious honking and saw a dog had driven her off the nest. She and her mate lured him away, but it was a couple of hours before she felt safe enough to return. Shortly after, Rusty the stray cat came a bit too close to the nest and the male charged with flapping wings and dispatched him. The picture above is the victorious goose.
Ironically, I think it wasn't predators that drove her off the nest, but tiny insects. I noticed that Mother Goose was picking at her chest feathers quite a bit Monday and it got worse with each day. She left the nest more often and for longer than before. I guess that either she has a bad case of mites or ants invaded the nest and were biting her mercilessly. Being a good mother she endured it as long as she could, but I think she's given up. Here are the geese relaxing after she left the nest. You can see her picking at her belly.
It's so sad because she was so close to hatching her 5 precious eggs, but nature is fraught with perils. Sometimes the small ones are the hardest to defeat. I'll miss seeing the goslings grow but maybe another pair was successful and will come visit my yard.
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