Canada Goose

The Canada Goose, Branta Canadensis, is a member of the family Anatidae. Canada Geese are widespread throughout most of the northern United States including Alaska and cover most of their namesake country, Canada. These are large birds with a wingspan of 63 to 68 inches and a length of 35 to 39 inches. Canada Geese are easily identified by their large brownish white breast and belly and most distinctively by their long, black neck, black head and white throat patch which extends up around the cheek. There are seven subspecies of Canada Geese recognized which vary in size and details of plumage, but all are recognizable as Canada Geese by their overall appearance. The male and female are similar although the female tends lighter in color and in weight. (male 8-14 pounds, female 7 – 12 pounds)

Breeding

Geese are known for their propensity to mate for life (up to 20 years) although they will mate again if one of the pair dies. Traditionally, Canada Geese would breed and raise their young in the far north of Canada and Alaska. As noted above, however, they are adapting to habitat change brought about by human activity and are increasingly breeding on wildlife refuges and near housing and commercial developments. In fact, breeding success often occurs more commonly near human activity than on wildlife refuges due to a relative lack of predators.

Division of Labor

Prior to egg-laying, both the male and female defend the nest site. Once the eggs are laid, the female does the incubation leaving only briefly to feed. The male continues to guard and defend the nest site. Both parents tend to the Goslings after hatching providing protection, direction to feeding areas, and warmth at night and during inclement weather.

Incubation

Canada Geese select a nest site that will offer some protection from predators, usually by selecting a site surrounded by water or marsh. Small islands are ideal, but geese will often build their nest on top of muskrat houses. The female adds aquatic plant material to the nest site and lines it with her own feather down. Geese are also known to select elevated nest sites such as the one depicted in our webcam. This nest is actually on an old osprey nest that is on top of an artificially constructed osprey nesting platform some 12 feet above the water surface of the Montezuma Wildlife Refuge. (Last year, after the goslings left the nest, an osprey nested in succession and successfully raised a single chick.) A clutch of anywhere from 2 to 12 white eggs are laid and incubation takes about a month. We believe our goose is incubating at least 5 eggs.

Hatching

Geese are precocial, meaning that the young are not brooded as such. They are able to walk, run, swim and find their own food shortly after hatching. In the case of our osprey nest Geese, the young will also have to make a death-defying leap into the water from 12 feet up.

Migration

Geese are known for their migration with large flocks flying in a “V” formation. Studies have shown that this flight pattern conserves energy as all but the lead goose are able to surf on the wake left in the air by preceding geese. Geese are known as weather migrants meaning that they will advance and retreat during their overall seasonal migration depending on weather conditions. In recent years, Canada Geese have also become opportunistic in their habitat selection by adapting to human created habitat changes. Drainage ponds for residential and commercial developments often create areas where geese breed and proliferate due to large areas of short grass that make feeding easy and a relative lack of predators near human activity. Large flocks have become non-migratory where they can glean fields of agricultural feed corn and other crops during the winter and access some areas of open water nearby.