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More bird kids. Enhydra lutris reported yesterday on new Chestnut-backed Chickadees. Today we've got new Canada Geese.
May 3, 2011. Mom, nanny and five of seven goslings.
In early April a sitting Canada Goose showed up on one of my weekly counts. Canada Geese incubate their eggs for about 28 days, so I started checking the nest multiple times a day over this last weekend. On May 2 I checked the nest at 1:30. Mom was still sitting, but there was a second goose standing watch, something I'd not seen before. Checked back at 3:45 and found mom off the nest with six goslings scurrying around her. The second goose was close by and quite attentive. One egg was still in the nest.
Checked back at about 12:30 on May 3 - there were no geese in the vicinity of the nest. Goose hunt time. Down the cove was a pair of geese with four kids.
May 3, 2011. Adult and three of four goslings.
These kids seemed to be too developed to have hatched the previous day. So headed back up the cove.
And there they were:
May 3, 2011. Mom, nanny and five of seven goslings.
This is just the beginning for these new geese. There are eagles, coyotes, raccoons and cats in the neighborhood, all of whom might consider a young goose an easy meal. A decade ago their population reached such numbers in the city that they were considered pests. 2,000 of them were rounded up and euthanized. We've not seen such huge populations since then; perhaps their natural predators have kept their population low enough that humans won't feel the need to step in.
No matter, I celebrate each year's new addition to the flock.
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