Grounded Geese

BirdNote^®

Grounded Geese

Written by Conor Gearin

This is BirdNote. 

[Canada Goose adults walking with goslings]

In spring and summer, the paths around local ponds might have some fluffy obstacles: young goslings along with their caring and defensive parents.

[Canada Goose adults walking with goslings]

Adult Canada Geese lose their flight feathers for several weeks in the summer, often while they’re raising a brood of goslings. Without the ability to fly away from people, and with their young to protect, grounded geese may act especially territorial.

[Canada Goose hiss]

The adult’s hiss lets you know that you should give the geese and their goslings some space.

Fortunately for a growing family of geese, newly-hatched young are able to swim and even dive underwater within just 24 hours. So even if these birds can’t take to the sky, they can splash into the pond to get away from foxes and other land-borne predators. 

    [Canada Geese splashing into the water]

In just ten weeks or so, the goslings will be making their first attempts at flying. And the adult geese will be sporting fresh new feathers for their big journey south in the fall.

    [Canada Geese flock honking]

For BirdNote, I’m Michael Stein.

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Senior Producer: John Kessler
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Canada Goose ML184203881 recorded by Jay McGowan, Canada Goose ML112176 recorded by Charles Duncan, and Canada Goose ML197832181 recorded by Robert Beauchamp.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2023 BirdNote  July 2023         
Narrator: Michael Stein

ID# CAGO-05-2023-07-11        CAGO-05

Reference:
https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/cangoo/cur/breeding#young
https://www.in.gov/dnr/fish-and-wildlife/hunting-and-trapping/canada-ge…
https://www.humanesociety.org/sites/default/files/docs/canada-goose-gui…