A Sad Goose Tale

Fate again was not kind to Mr. and Mrs. C. G.   Like the year before, momma goose was not to see baby goslings grow up to become fully grown geese.

After spending several weeks incubating her eggs, one-by-one each gosling hatched and each quickly died.  When the last tiny gosling passed away, Mrs. G. left her nest and spent the next half-hour walking around with her mate, the exercise must have felt wonderful to her.   Refreshed from her walk, she returned to her island nest and began to bury it and the remains of her babies, giving her lost goslings the respect she felt they deserved.  Once her task was done she rejoined her mate and together they waddled solemnly around our neighbor's yard.

At this point I would like to rant.  I like animals and am fond of pets, however I cannot understand why anyone would take on a pet only to neglect and ignore it. 

 Somewhere in our area there is a person or family that owns a dog, the dog has a collar and what appears to be a tag, it obviously has a home and yet it is always wandering up and down our street.  Our neighbor to the North of us (not the neighbor with the pond and the geese) often throws out bits  and pieces of food to this vagabond dog. 

It's clear that the dog is not well care for, he's dirty, probably has never been bathed, and his claws are in dire need of a trim.  I know about the claws first hand, one day he jumped on me begging for attention and accidently clawed the side of my left knee, leaving me with a three inch scar. 

Many times I wonder if the dog's owners ever miss him .  Do they worry that he could be hit by a car ?  Why have a pet if they're not concerned about it and are not committed  to taking care of or protecting  it?  Perhaps I just don't understand this mentality ?

Now on with the story:

Unfortunately, as momma and papa geese were bereaving, this stray dog trots into our neighbor's yard, he smells the remains of the goslings and proceeds to swim across the small pond and onto the island.  There he quickly sniffed out the burial spot and began to unearth the dead goslings and consume them.   In little time he had unburied the 4 tiny bodies and disposed of them via his tummy. 
When the last morsel was swallowed he swam back to the "mainland" and proceeded to play "catch the big geese".   A couple of minutes of the dog's harassment was all it took for Mr. and Mrs. C.G. to call it quits and fly away. 
Eventually our neighbors  came out and chased the stray out of their yard and then they closed and latched their gate.  It would surprise me if Mr. & Mrs. Goose return next Spring.  Two consecutive nesting failures and an attempted attack by a stray dog is enough to discourage even the most stalwart of geese.

All that remains is a patch of goose down and feathers.



GOOSE TAILS

Our snowbirds are back.  Each Spring for the last 3 years we've had a pair of Canadian Geese come to nest on our neighbor's tiny island. 

 

By now everyone in our neighborhood is familiar with them and I casually refer to them as Mr. and Mrs. G. (G for Goose- or Geese).    On occasion I call them C.G. - (Canadian Goose - or Geese) but that's for formal introductions only. 

 

Photo above  - Mrs. G. in her well feathered

nest.  Looks like she has some well chosen words for the

paparazzi !

 

The first year Mr. and Mrs. G. protected a clutch of about 6 eggs, only 4 of which hatched.  Unfortunately the last gosling to come out of its shell was somehow injured and our neighbors had to call Wildlife Management to come capture it and take it to a qualified veterinarian.  If you're interested you can read about that nesting  HERE and HERE. 

We never found out exactly what happened to the tiny gosling, if it did or did not survive.  Since it was not returned to its small family flock we can only assume that it could not be rehabilitated but we wish to believe that perhaps it is living comfortably in some type of sanctuary for handicapped wildlife, happily well-fed and lovingly cared for. 

Last year Mr. and Mrs. G. nested but none of their eggs were viable and after several grueling weeks spent incubating them Mrs. G. finally gave up and abandoned her nest.  She and her mate waddled about our neighbor's yard for a week or so and then, without much ado, departed.  

 I never quite understood just where Mr. and Mrs. G. go . . . I mean, if they come to South Florida for the summer then where to they reside in the winter ?  Do they fly further south to winter in Cancun, Cozumel or Puerto Vallarta ?  Do they waddle around some posh resort nibbling on tapas and sipping frozen corn-mush Margaritas ?  Can you picture Mrs. G. paddling around a pool in a shocking pink bikini?  Or Mr. G. sprawled out on a chaise lounge wearing his Foster Grant sunglasses ? 

They have returned now, for their third year, and once again Mrs. G. has made her nest on the island.  Always she chooses the same spot.  However I think this year she must be especially irritable as Mr. G. tends to keep his distance,  we often find him either browsing in our back yard or napping under the shade of the huge old oak trees at the back of our property. 

 

However he is quick to return to be close to his mate if anyone happens to stray outside, and he always joins Mrs. G. for a late afternoon swim around their pond. 

Will this year bring forth any fluffy, little goslings ? 

We will just have to wait and see as Mrs. G. isn't about to tell.  :)

A Goose That Couldn't Swim

Yesterday they came and took him away.   His was the last egg to hatch and therefore he was the smallest of the 4 little goslings.

At first all seemed well, safe and comfortable within their little nest, mama goose hovering above them and papa goose not far away. But soon we noticed that the littlest one seemed ... well different than it's siblings. While the others grazed happily, the littlest squatted in one place and nibbled at the grass seeds closest to him, always trying to keep his long, gosling neck tucked close to his small, fluffy body.

My husband and I soon realized the tiny runt had a problem -- our neighbors realized this too. We watched as the baby geese grew and the 3 older goslings soon sprouted tail feathers, followed by wing feathers and then the characteristic facial markings so familiar to Canadian Geese. Tiny Runt remained much smaller and still covered in it's fluff - not a sign of a tail feather in sight. Then one day I noticed he had great difficulty standing up. He had been resting, in his typical squatting position, on a slope of our neighbor's front yard.  As he stood, he wobbled, lost his balance and almost tumbled down the slope. Later, my husband told me he had witnessed the tiny gosling as it came close to drowning. It had been alone in our neighbors pond and suddenly became distressed and unable to stay afloat . . . a very strange thing for a water-bird. Suddenly, trying to help him, the Little Runt's parents and all his siblings were at his side. Miraculously they managed to get the wee one to shore. Needless to say he no longer held any desire to paddle about or enjoy the freedom of floating in the cool water of their pond.  My heart ached for the little fellow. 

Yesterday our neighbors called wildlife management and they sent someone out to check on the small gosling. The prognosis was the baby had a piece of his neck missing and it's thought that perhaps a hawk may have attacked the little fellow. Carefully the fluffy invalid was transported from his familiar pond to a wildlife veterinarian, we were all assured that they would do everything they could to help the little gosling and, hopefully, return him to his family. In the meantime momma goose has been distraught and seems to be constantly looking for her smallest baby. We pray he will be saved and returned before the summer is over.

Summer Snowbirds ... and some are not

Welcome to sunny southwest Florida where the snowbirds flock to flee the icy winds of northern winters and bask on our sugar white, sandy beaches. Then, when the humidity and heat show the slightest hints of climbing, they pack up and head north again.   We have, however, a couple of northern snowbirds that have chosen to stick around this summer; a pair of Canadian Geese.

Mom and pop geese built a nest on the tiny island in the middle of our neighbor's pond and proceeded to lay a clutch of 6 eggs.  For  many weeks mama goose sat patiently on her eggs and waited ... week after dreary long week, until finally her babies hatched. 

 Unfortunately only 4 of the eggs were viable but 4 out of 6 isn't too bad.  We've been enjoying watching the little fuzzy goslings grow and grow they do; very rapidly.  The parents have, so far, managed to protect their little ones from our local hawks and cats and dogs.  Now the only question is :  are the baby geese still considered Canadian or are they now native Floridian Geese ???

Staying South for the Summer

We have some new neighbors next door to us, a couple of snowbirds who've decided to stay south for the summer. Perhaps they don't mind the Florida heat and humidity ?

This pair of Canadian Geese have taken up residence in our neighbor's pond. It's not a very large pond but these lovely birds don't seem to mind.

To them it's Home Sweet Home, or at least during the daylight hours, at dusk they seem to disappear and I'm not sure where they nest at night. However they are very protective of their "home" and this "outsider" has not been allow to come into the pond. Perhaps with time it will be welcomed but until then it can only watch from the banks of the pond.

A few days ago a flock of these large water birds flew over, there were about 6 of them in all. The flock honked and made quite a racket as, on several occasions, they attempted to land. However the residing Geese couple would not hear of it, they protested loudly and told the flock, in no uncertain terms, to "Get Lost!" I'm sure they realized that their little pond could only accommodate a limited number of water birds and they weren't and aren't willing to share their domain.

Photo below... a pair of duck paddle around the circular pond and are quickly confronted by the possessive Geese.

Hey ! Who invited you ?

No!  This is OUR pond, you two will just have to leave.  Here allow us to escort you to the exit.

Of course the water level in this little pond is starting to drop as we've not had much precipitation in a few weeks. Hope we get some good rains this summer or these two very possessive geese will be waddling in a mud hole rather than wading in a pond.