High Drama on the Pond

Wednesday evening only three Canada geese showed themselves – two large feeding geese and one, smaller, sentinel goose.  Thursday there were ten geese feeding at the base of the dam.  I thought it a gathering of the clan; Ox thought there were two families of geese.

The geese were milling around nibbling stuff in the grass.  Suddenly one of them, a small goose with something black dangling from its beak, curved its neck into a sigmoid, extended its neck with its head two inches from and parallel to the ground, and ran at a nearby goose. The attacked goose backed off with loud honks.  The small goose then ran after another goose, who also backed off with loud honks. The attack goose kept running at the other geese.  They all ran away in a cacophony of  honks.  Suddenly all but the attack goose and one other flew, with very loud, excited honks, forty feet up to the middle of the pond at the dam's top.

I often wish I understood goose sociology.  The anthropomorphist in me wanted the remaining goose to be  the chosen caretaker of the wild goose.  Once the others left, the two at the bottom of the dam quieted.  The geese in the pond continued honking, with diminishing excitement, for about five minutes.

Research on the net indicates that the goose was probably defending its nesting mate and eggs.   It seems the attack goose was the caretaker.  See  http://www.preservewildlife.com/geeseworld.htm

Life in the wild is full of mystery!