Geese again

They didn't take long in setting up house. So Looks like I am stuck with geese if what you guys say is true......the goslins will be back "home" every year. She is sitting on 2 eggs that I saw and don't know if more are on the way. Don't they have half a dozen?

If the second pic uploaded, he is coming after me to shoo me off....getting too close to his woman.

Really like the way Geese are with their families. A real inspiration to all of us.

Mark

A few years ago I was over run with them. After I put 2 on the dinner table the others moved on.
No one messes with my garden.

Well sir, I did think about the possibility that if any were around here at Christmas time, I'd add a "migratory bird" stamp to my hunting license.....you fill in the blanks.

My sweetie read this over my shoulder and pinched me. "No way Jose". We'll see. Lotta time till then.

Mark

I like geese if they ain't bothern ya I'd let em be

You have some time, if those that hatch, return, you'll know they will keep returning.

One way to prevent that is to oil those eggs, vegetable oil or similar, they won't hatch and it will keep them busy, if you take the eggs she will lay more.

I get the depredation permit so I can legally deal with them here, in case someone reported something I am covered, mainly harass them as it never seems I can ever get the flat bottom boat and row around to all the nests in time. DEC used to band these and count them around here, and I am not sure why, they are not native.

You'll likely be able to make friends with them real easily, they do make a good watchdog.

I used to capture the young and hold em overnight, sometimes several broods (?) not sure what the correct term is. One group of young goslings imprinted on me and followed me around, I could pick clover and hand feed them, very young, the older ones will not do this. They followed me into the garage and into the back near the sitting area, it would have been interesting to raise them but being illegal and really not the right thing to do, I hauled em back to the water like always, and it was not long before they were found. It seemed that just by harassment, I kept a lot of them out of the field and though I'd like to not have them here, it works out, but boy can they devour forage, and they sure are smart.

I captured some ducklings in the same area, just to take some photos and you want to see what that Hen was doing, she took off, but made it back up the small stream and was watching me and the ducklings, waterfowl are very intelligent, I got a few nice shots and a short video, and no sooner than I set them into the water, there was a big ole reunion, she was waiting near the mouth of the stream at the large pond, and all was well again.

The geese can be a real pain at times and cause a lot of crop damage here, but I have found that the old field near the pond if kept mowed or if I was to plant something there to head them off, of the other areas, it can work, not the best but it does help.

I don't know where this is headed. Never had geese around before save a Pilgrim Goose the boy brought home from school one day. That sucker would fly by me on the way to work for the first mile then turn and go back home. Yes he was a good watch dog.

I have heard that the little ctitters will make a parent out of you. Ha. That's just what I need, a gaggle of geese following me around.

Mark

Texasmark1,

If I recall correctly, this little crew of bad-boys comes from either a pair or a handful of geese given to the city of Rochester many years ago. I believe they were considered a gift after some Canadian man had been in the town for medical care at Mayo.

Thinking that you will be overrun in time. Where these geese are - used to be a pretty little lakeside park. It is now full of them in the summer and one cannot walk with out stepping in goose poo... hence the nickname Goose Poo Park.

Thanks I needed that, Grin

We'll see how it goes. I may open a goose hunting concession here and make a few bucks on the side. Another grin.

Mark

Its hard to say how it will evolve, I mean its kind of odd that you have a nesting pair in your location, not sure what part of Texas you are in, but one thing is for sure they won't have to migrate or migrate very far. They start to move when the weather really starts to turn north of us and up in those areas, the other kind the snow goose, the flocks are incredible, I have friends who like to birdhunt and usually make 1 trip up north to one of their parents place. I've taken them during the season and prepared/grilled the breast meat, its pretty good, red meat, though I am not a fan of it because I really do not know what they are eating, if there is an issue with any of that, when you think about it, they do eat some pretty good stuff from what I see here.

When they Molt, you could catch one and band it, see if the same ones come back, same with the young.

During migration season, the 20 acre pond here can be covered with them, until the ice forms, then they leave, if its nice up north, I don't have to listen to them while in my hunting stand, they are so noisy, but are silent at night until something alerts them I can always tell when a large predator is around just by listening to them.

They are just enough to be a problem with crops here and thats about 30 of them.

I've always tried to be fair to the wildlife, I look at it if the roles were reversed, I like to leave well enough alone, but there are times when its tough to do that, the only thing that will get planted this year is my food plots, so that one closest to the water I have to figure out a way to beat them, I may just plant something to keep them occupied. This year may be tough, I've not been very hard on them, since the farmer stopped using the one field we've had in crops a long long time, maybe if I keep up with the mowing they will stay closer, really hard to say, one thing is for sure they are always a consideration when planting anything here, and that was never the situation years ago, they never stayed here then, and there were not so many overall.

They got so bad around here at the "Environmental Conservation Center" that they started oiling the eggs. Guess they were keeping the employees busy cleaning their shoes. It has cut the geese population down over there.

I was thinking about this today. Who feeds these critters, what, and who pays the bill? Gotta be a staggering number. So what happens if you quit? They leave? Sounds like an option.

Mark

I'm about 350 miles up from the coast marshes.

I had a flock of snows one spring headed back home. I had a wheat field and they decided to load up on groceries. I'd go out and wave my arms and holler at them but they would just fly up in a circle at about 25 or so feet and wait till I left. They'd get back to business. Don't let anybody kid you, those suckers can mess up a wheat patch big time.

Mark

LOL. Goose concessions could be your ticket to "rich".

And... they really are neat in small numbers.

Texasmark,

Nope, when they get that thick - they never leave. I even used to feed them on my lunch hour... they will eat corn from the vending machines or even a Big Mac from McDonalds. LOL. Really. Silver Lake in Rochester stays open all year, I guess due to the power plant discharging warm water which keep the lake from freezing over. But I know the geese have become a public nusiance and they have done some things at the park to discourage them.

Rochester may even have removed the grain vending machines... not positive about that though. BUT I have heard that the geese play havoc on the outlying farms around the city.

Seriously, enjoy them this summer. If loads start coming next year - do anything you can to disuade them.

Well the geese won't be fun to watch or a problem. Seems the local coon colony made it's rounds and wiped out the nest. They come around at night and forage for the fresh water clams. You see broken open shells all along the bank.

Today with no geese in sight I went to the nest and it was demolished. The 3 eggs that were in it (she apparently laid another) were about 50 feet away, all within a 3' circle and broken up/open. Polished clean.

Dogs come around at night too but can't carry 3 goose eggs 50 ft and break them open. They might make a mess in the nest, but that would be about it.

Oh well,

Mark