Canada Goose – The Most Famous In Canada
October 6, 2007 by Kimberly
In the Spirit of Canadian Thanksgiving on October 10th, I thought I would cover one of our most famous avian inhabitants of Canada…
The Canada Goose!
Scientific Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae
Genus: Branta
Species: B. canadensis
Conservation Status:
The Canada Goose is considered a species of least concern.
***
Canadian Geese
By Emma Snow
Few spectacles symbolize autumn better than a gang of Canada Geese crossing a cloudy sky in V-formation. Common throughout most of North America, Canada Geese live around ponds, rivers, and lake shores where they feed on aquatic grass, roots, and young sprouts, as well as corn and grain. A strong inward pull called instinct urges these waterfowl into the skies to make this great annual southward migration. But instinct does not determine the route the birds take. Canada Geese migrate in family groups, and they will travel the same route year after year. The young geese learn the route from their parents, and use the same route in subsequent years with their own young.
Canada Geese are more family-oriented than many other species of waterfowl. Adults mate for life, although a widow will often choose another mate. Pairs look for appropriate nesting sites in early spring, just as soon as there is open water for mating, and snow-free sites for nesting. Together, they use grass and plant material to build their nests, lining it with feather down. When the nest is ready, the male, called a gander, will guard the area as his mate lays her eggs. An average clutch is five to seven eggs, but it can be as low as two or as high as twelve. Each egg will take a day of more to lay, and incubation lasts about a month.
Both goose and gander are present when the eggs begin to hatch. Goslings use their sharp egg teeth to peck their way out of their shells, an arduous task that can take a full day or two. These newly hatched babies resemble ducklings, with yellow and gray feathers and dark bills; but within a week they will have changed into awkward-looking, fuzzy gray birds. Once out of their eggs, goslings are able to swim immediately, and will enter the water accompanied by both parents. There they will begin their first task of diving and eating. They must eat continually in order to grow sufficiently for their first flight. Newly-hatched goslings can dive 30-40 feet underwater for nutritious, aquatic plants.
At nine or ten weeks of age, goslings have grown their flight feathers and look like smaller versions of their parents. Canada Geese are easily identifiable with their long black necks and heads and contrasting white cheek and throats. Their back, upper wings, and flank areas are brown capes draped over nearly white breasts and bellies. Short black tails, black legs and black webbed feet are visible when they waddle across an open field. While Canada Geese range in size, they are typically 20-50 inches long, with a 50-68 inch wingspan. The largest varieties are called honkers, while smaller geese, one fourth the size, are called cacklers.
The first two months of a gosling’s life its entire goose family is earth-bound. Ganders molt directly after mating, and geese molt shortly after her eggs hatch. Unable to fly, the family abandons the nest on foot to find better feeding areas. Adults will have re-grown their new feathers just in time to give their young their first flying lesson.
Few birds are as vocal as Canada Geese, and some say they encourage each other as they take their challenging journey. If you listen carefully, you can determine the gender of the goose by their vocalizations. Ganders speak in a low-pitched honk, while geese use a high-pitched hink. Goslings have a soft, wheezy call.
The journey is made easier by flying in V-formation. By flying in formation, the flock adds 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew alone. As each goose flaps its wings, it creates uplift for those following behind. The geese take turns in the point position, as tired birds rotate back. If a goose is wounded or falls out of formation for any other reason, two of its flock will stay with it until it dies or is able to fly again. Then they will join another formation or catch up with their flock.
Canada Geese, though common, are fascinating creatures. In the words of Milton Olson, we can learn a lot from a goose!
Emma Snow has always adored wild animals. Emma provides content for Wildlife Animals http://www.wildlife-animals.com and Riding Stable http://www.riding-stable.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Emma_Snow
http://EzineArticles.com/?Canadian-Geese&id=492821
***
I hope you enjoyed today’s installment of Exotic Animal Lover! Until next time…
Live Exotically,
Kimberly Edwards 
P.S. This is a great and informational book about the Canada Goose! Great photos too! Check it out here:
Technorati Tags: geese, goose, Canadian geese, Canada geese, bird, aviary, birds, ducks, wild, animal, animals, Canada goose, Canadian animals, North American animals
Similar Posts:
- Ontario Wildlife I Came Across on Vacation
- Happy Canada Day to all of my Exotic Animal Lovers!
- No Ifs, Ands or Bats!
- There Are Bats in Dallas
- Black Birds in Dallas – What’s That About?
Popularity: 18% [?]
Canada Goose – The Most Famous In Canada…
The most famous goose in Canada! I just cannot get over how far they fly when they migrate South for the winter! However, I have really been noticing a lot of Canadian Geese sticking around throughout our past few winters……
Advise please! I have raised a canada goose from age 3 days to present. I believe it is 35 days old. Mature makings and trying to honk now. My husband and I have enjoyed raising the goose & it loves our company. I do want it to go south. I know that the ganders & geese have lost their feathers so they are all in hiding. In a few weeks, Aug 1st it should be able to fly for it is running and flapping now. Questions: Do they learn to fly on their own without a family? Can we go to water areas to leave it to see if it will call out to others, and would a surrogate group/family take it in? We would like to see it go south with others. How possible is this. We have several water/agricultural areas where geese live near us. Any help will be appreciated. Thank you, Lynda & Rod
Hello Lynda & Rod…
Well, yes, I think it’s very important your goose gets around other geese like it’s own kind. Your goose may have a hard time leaving you, as it has imprinted.
However, if your goose doesn’t leave your side, that may be alright too. I’ve seen shows on geese that have imprinted with humans and they stay with them through the winter and snow…They can survive…but I would make sure it has a warm place to be when it wants to, if it does happen to stay with you and not go with the other geese.
Nonetheless, what a beautiful story that you’ll keep with you always, I’m certain! What a blessing to have made such a bond with such an amazing animal…
The only thing I would do is keep on keeping on – if it doesn’t want to go the 1st time, maybe it will the 2nd or 3rd, when it gets used to the rest of the geese.
Please let me know what happens – I’m so intrigued and I hope this response helps you out…
Kimberly
Hi Kimberly,
Thank you for your advise. We took V the beautiful, we believe is a gander to Cranbrook B.C 1hour south of us where there is a 250 acre waterfowl sanctuary. My inlaws can see from there home the lake. Each morning at 10 and then in the evening they go visit and feed all the friendly geese. About 75 live here. It was feeding with the others for 3 days and now is gone. The last day in the morning I had him in my gardens he took off for a flight about 1 mile then returned at my feet. I watched and thought he was going away forever. This was the day we went to the Lake. He stood the whole hour in the back seat and watched the rivers ponds and mountains. Never took his eyes off the scenery except once to nibble on my ball cap.
I feel really sad to let him go but everyone feels he needs to be with his own and how can I go away for the Winter for 3 mos to Victoria? I could get a babysitter/neighbor. The Winter is long here about 5 mos. We are going on Wednesday to Elizabeth Lake to stay over night at the lodge there where we left V. We can walk the trails, use our spotting scope and binoculars to see if we can find him. Should I use my special call to get his attention or just leave it be. He could be by himself or joined in with others? We may never know but I am hopeful I can see him again. He is the biggest for his age in comparison.
I would like to email you again after our return on Thursday to give you an update. Lynda
Hi Kimberly
I just looked at your great site and your wonderful pasta dish video. I am looking forward to making it. Best of luck on your adventures and continued success. I have a new book to be released in a month on my wildlife adventures in Canada & Hawaii. I think you would might like it. Also with this 2nd goose I raised, Baby V’s
life story I have keep a journal for each day. It would make a great children’s book or a movie. Cheer, Lynda Taylor, Mother Goose.
Hi Lynda!!!
That is so fascinating and bitter sweet! I would try the goose call and see if it works, for sure!
He, obviously, knows you want him to be with his friends, but that doesn’t mean he can’t come visit you every now and again too.
I do hope you get to see him again – what a heartwarming story of V. Love the name, by the way, very clever!
Also, thank you so much for checking out my site and my cooking videos from http://CookingWithKimberly.com! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipes, etc!
Yes, please keep me updated on your experience with V – I’m so interested in hearing all about it.
I think I’d love to read your book – please let me know when it’s ready! I’d love to feature you and your book on my site, if you’d like that.
Thanks so much for such wonderful interaction – it’s truly a pleasure…
Kimberly
Kimberly,
I am almost in tears as I write this because the time for me to lose my Canadian Goose has come. On Mothers Day of all days, in 2008 I heard my dogs barking like crazy in our backyard, so I go and look and in between their kennel and our house was a little baby gosling. We live on a farm in Indiana and have a lower part of our field that floods out yearly and often we see geese down in the water. So we assume this ones mother had her babies there. The baby from pictures and research we have done was about a week old if that. We do not know how she managed to wander so far up to our house without her mom that day (we just call her a female) although it was storming pretty bad. We searched for the mom or brothers or sisters and found nothing, so we warmed her up, my boys named her Flipper and she became ours. I could not place her back outside like our wildlife recuse told us too. They said it was illegal to keep her and we had to put her back whether she died or not, and well, we just could not do that. But the time has come now with the economy that we will be moving soon to Georgia and cannot take her with us. She has been living indoors with us in her own cage and she has gone outside daily with me and the kids, to play in her pool or just be outside. She follows us around all the time and has become on of the children. It breaks my heart to have to leave her behind but we just cannot take her and sometimes I feel she deserves the life she was intended to have anyways. But I am so scared about her well being. Can she survive now? Can she learn to fly? She has never flown before. And we have always fed her grass and goose feed. Will she be able to join a new flock? Will she stay and freeze and die since she doesn’t know how to fly south? So many worries I have and it kills me. Any help you can offer or advice would be so greatly appreciated. Flipper is our family and this is one of the hardest things we have ever been faced with.
Hello Deborah…
Well, I can see how it would bring you to tears – I’m almost in tears reading your story.
It’s amazing how close we get to our “babies”, isn’t it?
Okay, firstly, I was unaware it was illegal to help another living creature – leaving the baby to die – that’s just not the right thing to do…
However…now, it is what it is…I’m not sure of your entire situation, but why can’t you bring Ms. Flipper with you to GA? Knowing how we are, I know we’d bring her if we could…
…But if you absolutely cannot, you may want to start bringing sweet Flipper to a pond where there are other Canadian Geese – or a reserve…Let her interact with the others. She may find them interesting and understand what you’re trying to do.
Now, it may take a few times of bringing her down there for her to get the confidence to interact, and it may only take 1 hour – you never know.
She’ll probably want to run back to you, like a child would – it’s going to be hard for you, your family and Flipper – you love each other!
Some good news is, being from Canada, I’ve seen many Canadian Geese hang out all winter in the ice and snow and survive – not sure how they do it, but they do. It’s a shame their geographical map and seasonal clock is all messed up with all the global changes going on. It must be confusing to them.
That being said, I don’t know how Flipper will do if she’s never foraged for herself. You’ll need to allow her to roam free outside of her cage to get to know what she needs to do. I know this is scary – you can still supervise her and leave her some food, but she’ll need to learn that too.
I’m so sorry this is so traumatic. I can get a sense of the bond you have with her – what a beautiful relationship.
I have another reader and commenter – Lynda Taylor – that just had to deal with a very similar issue with the Canadian Goose that “adopted” them…Maybe you could contact her through her url she left: http://www.creeksidegardens.ca – to get some more direct advice, since I’m not an expert on this, as this has never happened to me before. I’m sure she’d be happy to help you out too.
I hope these are some words of advice you can work on to implement for a plan – Of course, Ms. Flipper’s well being is of utmost importance here.
That all being said, I do hope you’ll update us here by leaving a comment to let us know what happens and how things are going.
I wish you, your family and Flipper all the best – and have a safe move!
Hoping to hear back from you again soon,
Kimberly
This is so exciting is there a club where we can register and get all of these posts?
Hello Animaux Chien Quebec…
Absolutely! If you go to this link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ExoticAnimalLover …
You’ll be able to get on the RSS feed and get updates when and only when I update the site – That puts you in the Exotic Animal Lover “Club”!
Hope to see you around here again soon,
Kimberly
Hello Kimberly,
I do hope Deborah will contact me because I feel I can help her with my story of successfully integrating my goose. I have done alot of research and observations close up and personal of geese and know also how she feels. I understand them fairly well now. I would like to be of help if she still needs it. My direct email is lindarod@telus.net. Best wishes, Lynda
Sorry Kimberly I forgot to tell you that it would be wonderful to have you help me share my book with others. I will give you details as the time approaches. In great appreciation, cheers, Lynda
@ Lynda Taylor:
That is so sweet Lynda…
I’m sure it would be so great for Deborah, as she’s really having a tough time with a decision and all the emotions that come along with it.
Actually, I’m going to personally email you her email address and see if you can’t reach out to her that way – of course, not sure if she’s subscribed to comments to get follow up messages here.
Also, I would love to help you get the word out about your book. Please keep me informed and updated, so I can be of assistance!
Kimberly
I didn’t realize Lynda Taylor email me @ support on the site…I wanted to share with you all the progress she’s had with her Canada Goose, “V”…
Lynda: “Thank you so very much for getting back to me! That is great advise and
comfort to me. I will keep you posted. Ever grateful to you. I have written
one story about a raising a goose in my new book. This new baby has had some
adventures that I can share later. We will get to work on finding some right
away. We went boating on our lake today and saw 2 eagles go after a duck to
keep it under water for a long long time. Just before that she hid her 7
babies in some cattails. She must have known they would want her for lunch.
It was amazing to watch with baby V hugging our boat. It can see jets in the
sky, really good eyesight. Right away one swallow dived on the eagles then
3 crows chased them aggressively until they left and the duck was safe. That
was about 10 mins. of intense drama we witnessed. In appreciation, Lynda”
That really sounds like fabulous progress for V…She gets to see the wild in the safety of your supervision.
I hope things go perfectly for her!
Kimberly