For the last 10 yrs or so, we have had a pair of geese fly into our 1.5 acre pond, where they build a nest, lay their eggs, hatching those eggs with approx. 6 to 10 goslings. Sometimes they hang around and raise their offspring here until they fledge and move on, to a larger body of water.
Sometimes they hang around our 1.5 acre pond for only a few days and then simply vanish...gone. Then like this year, the parents show up when we have a south wind and begin the process all over again.
WELL, the wife and I were talking Saturday morning, noting our 'strong, warm, southerly wind'...wondering if 'mother nature' was once again giving us a sign that the beginning of spring and the beginning of the nesting cycle for our Geese had begun.
Warm weather on Saturday and Sunday, along with a strong southerly wind...and this morning, an hour or so ago...we look out at one of our bird feeders and there is a single Canadian goose picking up the birdseed that is being tossed onto the ground by our regulars. Only those Geese familiar with our property would know about our feeders.
Spring is just about here according to the calendar date... but 'our Geese' are telling us that SPRING IS HERE..!
Cool. That strong south wind brought a bunch of migrants into the area.
As the resident bird snob here...... it's correctly called a Canada goose, not Canadian goose (unless you see it's passport or other form of citizenship)
And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul. - John Muir
March came in like a lamb, it will go out like a lion. Guarantee there will be more snow or ice. Sorry, but that old saying has rarely failed in my experience.
Annual Weather Summary November 2021 to October 2022
Winter will be colder than normal, with below-normal precipitation but above-normal snowfall, especially in the west. The coldest periods will occur in mid- to late November and through much of the period from mid-December through January. The snowiest periods will arrive in mid-December, early and mid-January, and mid- to late February. April and May will be much warmer than normal, with below-normal precipitation. Summer will be slightly cooler and drier than normal in the east, with above-normal temperatures and rainfall in the west. The hottest periods will be in late June, early to mid-July, and early August. September and October will be warmer than normal, with normal precipitation.
Always a refreshing sign. The redbuds and pear trees are in bloom around here. Near some of the ponds where I walk the frogs have been singing since mid Feburary. Once they start to crawl out from under the mud, I know spring is around the corner.
I guess due to our location, to me it signals the good weather season is about to end. We have pretty mild winters here. I like daytime highs of 50 degrees, sweatshirt weather, which it hits more often than not. Once mid-May rolls around, it's 90's and the beginning of a long hot summer until October rolls around.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn.
Spring is just about here according to the calendar date... but 'our Geese' are telling us that SPRING IS HERE..!
We also had robins show up this week and a resident Groundhog showed up at the bird feeder to see what might be on the menu. Just a note...daylight savings time begins this weekend and Winter continues to hang on with some snow predicted and temperatures in the 30s.
We have about 45 geese around the lake at my apartment in Fort Wayne. They left last winter, but stayed put this year... kinda weird.
These things are a PIA. Just way too many, the sidewalks look like they're littered with detonated goose sh*t mines all summer. It cracks me up to watch all the residents and their "goose chasing" techniques. Some people clap, some stomp, some all but cry - they seem scared to death of them. In their defense, these things will charge and hiss at you, and some of them are pretty big lol.
I just hiss back at them to keep them away from my little nine-pound doggie, seems to be the only language they understand.
I'd be good with just looking at goose pics on google the rest of my life whenever I feel the need to see a goose.
I don't have a problem with geese, per se. I DO have a problem with geese in my pond. There are enough other ponds around - they don't need mine.
8 years ago? Walked out in the morning to 6 Canadian geese in my pond. No problem. I'll let them be, rest, eat, then be on their way. Right?
Got home 6 hours later, they were still there. I walked around the pond. In the back yard there were 120+ piles of green crap.
Yelling did nothing to remove them. A shot gun did, though. (nope, never shot at them - never killed a single one, never injured a one of them).
Golf courses have this problem as well.
Side note: A long time ago, just across the road, was a frog farm. It's long gone. But, when we bought this place, our pond was over run with bull frogs - big ones, little ones, some huge. And during breeding season, the tad poles were unbelievable. Everywhere. And they ........let's just put it this way: Grab 2 tadpoles, put them in a quart jar of clean water, let them in that overnight. In the morning, the water is brown.
Combine that with the pond having a tremendous overload of blue gill. They breed incessantly.
Our pond stunk, we had algae and weeds growing - it was a mess, really.
Solution? I bought a bunch of bass. Friend had caught a really large (40 lb) flat head in the river, and released it in the pond. Results, letting nature take over, didn't take long to see. With in 2 years, maybe a frog or 2. The blue gill are still a slight issue.
Went to the local Fin Fur and Feather, bought a bunch of rounds of HeviX 20 gauge. The guy said... " Spring is back " I said.. "yep"
The Geese think they can make me late for wherever I'm going by crossing the road like they pay the taxes for it ! and they think they can crap all over the place like I enjoy taking my grand kids to a park full of Goose crap !
Linh Ta March 10, 2022·1 min read Some new stars were looking for their time to shine on the Decorah eagles' nest cam on Wednesday.
Driving the news: A Canada geese couple had no problem making themselves at home in Decorah's most popular bald eagle nest near the trout hatchery.
Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free
The eagle couple that used to live there decided it was high time to leave the countryside and moved behind the city's Walmart instead.
State of play: It's not uncommon for geese to take up residence in larger birds' nests, especially if they migrated back to Iowa earlier than others, said Amy Ries of the Raptor Resource Project.
Yes, but: Bald eagles' nests are way higher than where geese usually lay their eggs.
So that means their goslings have to, well ... "We call it the leap of faith," Ries said. (They typically land okay though.)
What's next: Don't worry eagle fans — Ries doesn't expect the geese will make the nest their new home.
But if you're looking for some raptor action, there are currently eggs at the North Nest and they're expected to hatch March 25.
clem...definitely cool, looking at that fuzzy baby exhibiting that 'dead serious Eagle scowl' that seems to say, don't mess with me...
Egg #2 of the Decorah North 'Eagles' nest is reported to be closer to hatching with some viewers seeing a hole in the shell and hearing peeping noises coming from inside the egg. A good chance that the second baby eagle hatches today.
That said...at the abandoned Eagle nest that looked to be taken over by a pair of Geese...they now have EGGS..! Strange, but not unheard of...
I didn't know Canada Geese even nested in trees. How could the young even survive? As large as they are, the young have to be pretty big to start flying.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn.
Here's an incredible pic someone sent me. Eagles mate for life, and take turns on the nest incubating the eggs. Looks like a ticked off wife waiting for hubby to come home from the bar. This was an awesome capture.
And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul. - John Muir
Here is video documentation of another situation back in 2014 showing baby geese jumping out of an Eagles nest. According to the comments below the YT video, the babies survived..!
Peen...here is another video of baby geese jumping out of a nest and YES..THEY SURVIVED.
From the comments under the video..seems this is a regular occurrence at Sandpoint, Idaho. Click their facebook link below for pictures and more info.
SandpointOnline 11.4K subscribers Video of goslings jumping from the Memorial Field webcam nest in Sandpoint, Idaho. The six goslings are jumping 100 feet down to the field following their parents. Update: They made it to the lake safely, see a photo of the family here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...
Yesterday, the Geese that laid their eggs in an abandoned Eagles nest in Decorah, Iowa...the eggs began to hatch. It is customary for an adult to stay with the baby geese (aka: Goslings) until all hatch then one of the adults remains on the ground and calls the Goslings, encouraging them to jump out of the nest.
The video will switch back and forth showing images of the Geese and Goslings and also showing a pair of Eagles that have been in the area, but are not nesting.
The highly contagious H5N1 strain is also infecting commercial chickens and turkeys
A highly contagious bird flu that’s sickening commercial chickens and turkeys is also now spreading among bald eagles. At least 36 bald eagles have died since February, according to data collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The H5N1 strain of the highly pathogenic aviation influenza (HPAI) has killed bald eagles—the United States’ national bird—in Florida, Nebraska, Ohio, Georgia, Kansas, South Carolina and several other states, according to the data. Eagles suffering from the virus may have seizures and be unable to stand up, reports Jennifer Calfas for the Wall Street Journal.
The deaths are particularly concerning because bald eagles are also now grappling with lead poisoning that stems from ingesting ammunition while eating animals shot by hunters, reported Douglas Main for National Geographic in February. A study of 1,210 eagles in 38 states published in the journal Science earlier this year found that more than half of the birds had chronic lead poisoning. Lead toxicity can impair eagles’ ability to move, prevent them from digesting food and, if they ingest enough of the metal, it can kill them, per National Geographic.
“We are seeing significant mortality,” Victoria Hall, executive director of the University of Minnesota’s Raptor Center, tells the Wall Street Journal. “The better data we can collect about what is happening in these populations, the better we can figure out how we can best support them.”
Bald eagles were abundant in 1782, when the Founding Fathers incorporated the raptor into the new nation’s official seal. Based on anecdotal reporting at the time, upwards of 100,000 bald eagles lived in America, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). As the number of waterfowl, shorebirds and other prey declined in the 1800s, so too did the bald eagle population; people also incorrectly perceived bald eagles as a threat to livestock and shot them.
To help the population rebound, Congress passed the Bald and Gold Eagle Protection Act in 1940, which banned the killing, selling or possessing of the birds. Then, in the late 1940s, the new pesticide DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) began to proliferate, poisoning bald eagles in the process. By 1963, only 417 nesting pairs remained, per the USFWS.
In light of mounting evidence about the dangers of DDT, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) banned the use of the pesticide in 1972. Bald eagle numbers slowly began to rebound and, by 2018 and 2019, there were more than 70,000 breed pairs in the lower 48 states, according to the USFWS. The U.S. Department of the Interior removed the raptor from the endangered species list in 2007.
Eagles and other wild birds aside, the virus is also sickening millions of commercial birds raised for their eggs and meat across the country—and driving up the price of eggs and poultry in the process. In Iowa, the country’s leading egg-producing state, producers have killed more than 13 million chickens and turkeys affected by the virus. All told, farmers across the country have slaughtered nearly 27 million commercial chickens and turkeys to help stop the spread of the virus, which has been reported in 27 states. This is the deadliest bird flu outbreak since 2014-15, when 50 million chickens and turkeys died either from the virus or in efforts to prevent its spread.
Though animal health experts can’t predict the long-term effects of the virus, many are concerned about the potential impact to the supply chain, food costs and wild bird populations, which are already declining.
Though the virus is harming birds, it’s unlikely to spread among humans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The federal agency notes, however, that humans can become infected if they spend a lot of time around infected birds without wearing proper respiratory or eye protection gear and enough of the virus gets into their nose, mouth, eyes or lungs. Human cases of bird flu are rare but can cause eye infections, upper respiratory symptoms, pneumonia and even death. The virus is not easily spread from person to person, according to the CDC.
Yesterday, the Geese that laid their eggs in an abandoned Eagles nest in Decorah, Iowa...the eggs began to hatch. It is customary for an adult to stay with the baby geese (aka: Goslings) until all hatch then one of the adults remains on the ground and calls the Goslings, encouraging them to jump out of the nest.
The video will switch back and forth showing images of the Geese and Goslings and also showing a pair of Eagles that have been in the area, but are not nesting.
For those who care to join into the conversation or simply follow along, Raptore Resources will be having a Chat session today, talking about our Goslings...
latest post: We will open chat at 2 pm today (4/27) with our Canada goose. Four goslings have hatched, we're waiting on two more, then within about 24 hours of the final hatch, the big jump. Join us for the chat at this site: https://www.raptorresource.org/birdcams/decorah-eagles/
Ive got tons of geese outside of my work. Had one lay her eggs pretty much right outside the entrance doors. She has been sitting on them for 17 days now, so maybe another 10 days if the vermin people don’t snatch them up before they hatch.
For those who want to just follow along to see how this Gosling Event plays out..."the leap to freedom"...you can follow the link below...then scroll down until you see the chat section on the right side of the page. The neat thing about this chat section is members post pictures along with their comments, making easier to follow the progress of the present events...enjoy..!
For those who want to just follow along to see how this Gosling Event plays out..."the leap to freedom"...you can follow the link below...then scroll down until you see the chat section on the right side of the page. The neat thing about this chat section is members post pictures along with their comments, making easier to follow the progress of the present events...enjoy..!
Five eggs have now hatched with one more egg to go. How much longer before the goslings 'leap to freedom' begins is an unknown, but it should be sometime today. My understanding is 'mother goose' makes the decision how long to wait for the last egg to hatch, so it's up to her when leap begins.
To keep up with the progress, click on the link just above this post..then click the arrow to begin the live feed..scroll down to the 'comments' on the right and you find a list of "up to date comments and pictures" provided by the many viewers who are following every move 'mother goose and her goslings' have made.
I was going to post about "the flight to freedom", but while scrolling the latest information included in the 'comments' section I ran across the official rundown from Raptor Resources...
From Raptor Resource Project Facebook:
April 28 The goslings jumped today! We'll have video tomorrow, but for now, we know that: - Four of five goslings survived and were last seen swimming happily in Trout Creek, foraging along the bank, and following their parents up and down the small pool below the nest. - One of the four went the wrong way after jumping! We managed to reunite it with its family after some mad scrambling through the brush, a low crawl across the river bank, and a little rock jumping. This gosling seemed determined to stay with new Papa David Kester: it took two tries to get it back where it belonged! - One gosling died. We initially thought it might have been the last to jump, since it was younger and smaller than its siblings and took a while to follow them out of the nest. But the gosling we reunited with its family was smaller than the one we found dead. We suspect (but don't know for sure), that the reunited gosling was the last gosling, and the gosling that died was gosling number two. One, three, and four joined their parents quickly, but we don't think we saw two after it jumped. We look forward to sharing more with you tomorrow and we hope you enjoyed watching the geese as much as we did!
Our goose out front at work, has 5 eggs in her nest. Today is day 24, so they are getting close.
frenchy...normal gestation period for Canadian Geese is around 28 days but it can vary because some biologists believe the 28 day incubation period doesn't start until the last egg is laid. Let us know when the eggs hatch.
Well the goose hatched 4 of the 5 gooslings sometime after 5:00pm Friday (26 days) and Sunday morning at 6:30am (28 days). Got to work this morning and they were already all gone. Guy who worked yesterday said 4 of them were walking with mom and dad down the steps leading to some fields. Was looking forward to seeing some baby’s.
Frenchy...That is neat stuff and almost a mirror replay of what the geese that nested on our pond did, taking their goslings on a field trip to be raised in a different location than where they nested.
![[Linked Image]](http://www.dawgtalkers.net/uploads/small-gator-chomp.gif)
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/vngTogt.jpg)
