Geese

[paul m]

Something I've not thought much about is parental care by water-birds. Yesterday, at the lake in Langold Country Park (Notts) saw a couple of Canada geese in convoy with nineteen goslings -

- which struck me as a very large number even for two parents.
They swam across the lake (perhaps expecting food) and two other geese followed at some distance:

- but didn't join up with the larger group.
The goslings came onto land -

- but finding nothing to eat soon returned to the mothers (?). They seemed to gather in two distinct groups around the adults.

Anybody know anything about goose clutch size? I only recall seeing groups of around four. If these chicks belonged to other parents were they adopted or just being cared for temporarily? Any other suggestions?

[RoyW]

Hi Paul,

Canada Geese normally lay 5-6 eggs in a clutch, up to a dozen on rare occasions. Nineteen would seem to be an exceptional number for one brood so I would think that it is most likely that two broods have joined together here (perhaps explaining why they appeared to seperate into two groups).

Roy.

[paul m]

Thanks, Roy. Yes, elsewhere on the lake geese (or pairs) seemed to have three, four or five goslings.
Poses question after question: why did these two adults bring their broods together? Can one assume they're females? Have here been two large broods or has someone been doing a Madonna? All fascinating stuff!

[goosey]

Did anyone see "Life in cold blood" with David Attenborough? Anyway, one of the epsodes featured South American Alligators (might have been crocodiles ) and they had a creche for all the young, and one or two adults took it in turns to look after all the young while the other went off leaving their young in safety. Perhaps geese have a similar system?

[Beverly Stayart]

Thanks for sharing this info about wildlife parenting.