The mysterious life of our Canada Geese. Watching them over the years makes one very curious and yearning to know more. Will they, won't they stay and breed?
Over the last 4 years we have had a pair of Canada Geese who make our pond in Blacheon their home for the breeding season. They like the island in the middle where they make their nest and raise their young. Their first year things didn't work out and they left with no young, second year they raised 2 goslings, the next year 4 and last year 6. Clearly age and experience counts!
This year all looked good, they returned, looked comfortably at home, coming and going as they do until they settle down to the business of raising a family. However one day only one of them returned and looked visably distraught. Where was it's mate? It got me thinking and questioning facts about Canada Geese and off I went to research. Interestingly they live for between 10 and 24 years in the wild, with one having been recorded as reaching 30. In captivity they can live for up to 40 years. They start breeding when they reach maturity, mostly at the age of 3 but some advanced youngsters at 2. And they pair for life......usually!
From appearances you cannot distinguish between the male and female - or rather I can't. If the two are together the Gander is normally the slightly larger of the two and his sounds are slightly higher - but when only one turns up it's anyones guess! So our one lonely goose could have been either sex. But where had their partner gone? Sadly it could have died - has Avian Flu struck? Could it have been killed or injured? Or had it gone off to find another partner? Yes, apparently, although they are said to pair for life, occassionally a couple take a break from each other.....take up with a new partner for the season, hoping to improve their breeding chances and then return to their original pairing the following year! This only normally happens if their previous season has not been too successful - but our couple had a great year of raising 6 lovely youngsters, so there really wasn't a reason for looking for a new mate. So sadly it looks as if the lonely goose had lost it's mate for other reasons.
The good news though is that doesn't deter them from looking for a new partner and sure enough within the week the goose returned with a friend. They've been coming and going, spending time on the pond during the day and flying off in the evening to roost elsewhere. Whether this pair will stick around or not only time will tell. Let's hope so.