If any locals are concerned that we might run out of Canada Geese this year, fear not. There is a large, fresh, crop preparing to embellish our lawns and parks.
Usually when I see goose chicks with parents, the watery parade is a stately, even prideful, affair. Last year’s picture, characterizes this.
A few days ago, I watched three goose families swim past other geese without chicks. The parents were doing a large amount of posturing, in particular, all used the head-forward challenge. According to one website, this display is used to ward off aggression.
My guess is that the parents were making a statement to the adjacent chickless geese: “keep your distance, these are our babies.”
This is typical outing for an isolated family of Canada Geese—look at the adult necks (May 2011).
The head forward display suggests that the parents are telling adjacent geese to stay away.
“These are our goslings!”
You can send a few north….but not too many!
Judy, the three goose families just swam by again. So, I held up a sign bearing the QR code for Round Lake (below). One of the precocious chicks was seen using an iPhone App to decode it. Now, geese are not noted for their subtlety of thought, but some of them may get the message.