Well I finally got a shot of the geese, sorta.

One of you guys wanted a shot of the pair of geese that showed up at the house a couple of weeks ago, thereabouts. The were over once since and I didn't have my camera, but did go and get it yesterday.

I have a loafing shed about 30 yards from them and that is as close as I could get and not spook them. I have a regular digital Olympic camera with a 10x zoom so I did the best I could. I'm a long way from being camera proficient or a buff.

The hen is hanging around the pier in the pics. He is out and decides to join her. They must be nesting around here somewhere otherwise they wouldn't still be hanging around. My deeks are still out but the last of the ducks left a few weeks ago. The deeks still decoy the herons however, but the fish are still deep and they are wasting their time. They made a couple of flyovers at about 50' and these birds are huge.

We usually get Snows down the central flyway (white with black tipped wings) on the way to the TX. coast, but ever so often a few Canadians come down.

I'll always cherish that movie about that little girl with that ultra light that brought that flock of geese she raised South leading with her "goose plane". Fabulous pic..

Mark

That's funny... All my sheds are 'loafing'
sheds.
good luck
Kenny

hope that's not a prelude of things to come.

Canada geese used to fly over all the time when I was a kid - then a few stopped in... then a few more... and more...

Now they show up by the thousands - making a nasty mess. Real problem for swimming areas and golf courses, or if you're unlucky enough for them to take a liking to your yard.

I was driving down the highway not long ago and a whole pack of them (a gaggle?) decided to land right on the road - in 70mph morning traffic.

I don't know what made them do it, but the carnage was pretty impressive.

Looked like a pillow factory exploding. Big puffs of feathers one after another. Bloodied cars skidding and swerving. Goose carcasses flying every which way.

I somehow made it through untouched within about 2 seconds, going along my merry way - kind of surreal. A few minutes later was wondering if that really just happened.

It is claimed that wherever geese learn to fly will become there permanent home. There is a large group that stays at one of the parks in our city and in the past the DNR has trapped young birds and relocated them out of town to reduce the number that come to the park and stay.

You'll regret them being at your place in a few years

Well, that's what we call them. The cows go in there to get out of the weather and loaf. Grin

Mark

There is a lake not too far from here that has a permanent gaggle of maybe 30. Sometimes I quit fishing and just watch them.

Hear you on the mess. Have seen folks with domestic ducks and they too make a big mess. I really doubt that they are nesting here. I have Coontail Moss and they are over after that. Didn't know geese ate it but apparently so. I don't have any winter wheat for them to graze.

Mark

That movie was "Fly Away Home". Search on Direct TV and it is on again this week. We live close to the Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge at Seymour, Indiana. It was used as a stopover point in training migration of the whooping cranes until a few years ago when the route was moved west to avoid major cities and air traffic. The ones trained on this route still come by here. Bill Lishman was the one involved in the first training and still works with the organization.

http://www.operationmigration.org/

I have been chasing them off trying to keep them from nesting here. Nothing grows by the neighbors pond in my field where they are every year. They will walk right down a corn row and pluck the corn right out of the ground as it comes up. My neighbor thinks they are nice to have around. He's not the one paying 450 bucks an ac. to plant corn just to have the geese keep it from growing.

We never had them here, used to marvel at them when you caught a glimpse of a flock way up high, even more so if you heard them at night.

Part of this place was a big swamp or marsh, 20 acres or so with all those tufts or raised up thick clumps of grass with some pockets of water, some higher ground where you could walk. Beaver got in, raised and flooded the entire area, then the geese starting using this pond. One side borders what is now a causeway and the army corps of engineers considers it navigable, there was actually a set of barges in there when they rebuilt the road bed and installed sheet piling. The state now controls the water level, I kinda liked it when it was low, less stagnant now, don't get any mill foil or algae cover, adjacent field used to be larger.

Those geese will cover the entire pond at times, both snow and Canada. They established themselves here, and graze anything that is planted, theres a nice 30 acre field on another side of it, freshly planted in hay and those geese took almost 2/3rds of it, went right to weeds, farmer gave up on it for years, just last year, it was put in corn by another farmer, and they took the first hundred feet of it, all turned to weeds, fly over by the police thought it was marijuana LOL ! I had to chase them out of the oats every morning at sun up, fire warning shots, then they would hide on the other side of a knoll, take cover, even while shooting towards them. Then of course while the young still have a ways to go, they molt and are on foot, and will just strip anything you plant, I lost a nice clover patch to them one year. I have to get depredation permits for 25, then you need to get federal permits beyond that, there are so many of them, but protected. You have to report any kills, I mainly harass them out it is a pain in the @ss, you can't really spring plant anything near them the oats seemed to recover or not be adversely affected but the sight of them in the field when its only inches high makes you cringe. This year being cold longer, no forage, they were all over the lawns by the house, lots of droppings, same with the nearby field, free fertilizer, finally some green is up, now they have forage.

I used to collect all the young, chase the adults away, hold em overnight, release in the morning, and all kinds of things similar to harass the heck out of them, it sort of works to keep them off the field, they all find each other by sound again, funny, sometimes young will dive and not come up again, really odd thing I have noticed. One of the groups I had must have imprinted on me, followed me everywhere, right into the garage and to the back where there is a man cave/sitting area TV, they were funny, was hard to let em go, make good watchdogs, that is for sure but boy are they a pain if you have crops, I kind wish they were gone, I have tried to avoid conflict, even thought it would be easier to shoot 25 of them, I mostly chase them out, once in awhile you get a real tough male when they have young, pretty darned brave and or brazen.

Thanks for the insight. He did a super job.

Mark

Make sure to addle the eggs,maybe they won't come back.

i have pairs and up to 6 on our pond on occasion, they rarely stay for more than a day. they are a flock bird that likes large numbers. my pond is not big enough and lack available food for large flocks. google what geese will eat and you may be surprised. also, seldom will you see a pair by them selves raising young as predators eat the eggs, typically it requires a very large number of them for eggs and young to survive.

In Minnesota they are massive pests in the cities. Giant feathered rats, as opposed to pigeons which are small feathered Rats. (good eating, Make jerkey out of the brest meat Whooo Hooo) But we cant shoot them in town. Hundreds in the parks, Goose Poo in the grass. We are on the missippi, and the flyway. Jim

I usually have to walk through 3 or 4 of them to get from my truck to the door of my office. They crap everywhere and are pretty agressive. That is, until they realize I am not the typical city guy and wont run from them like all the other office folks do. Its fun to watch the goose's "oh crap" moment when they figure out I'm about to grab em.

I really like geese...in the wild. The city geese are just a nusence, and they are learning that the urban areas are a refuge.

lol

Anyone know where that term came from?

Well the day I took the photo's they left, off to the SE. Yesterday, they were back but this time grazing spring rye grass in my pasture.

With what you guys said in mind, I invited them to leave and they flew SE again. There is a big pool (pond) over there and maybe they are nesting there.

I'll be sure and invite them to leave when they come back.

Mark