Canada Geese – we have families!
The nest on our point and the nest on our neighbor’s point were both destroyed this year. And because we have had an increase in the number of raccoons living here and raccoons are ground nest predators, I wondered if any nests around our lake had been successful. Today I had a big surprise in that there were 3 families of Canada Geese together under the feeders – 2 of the adults as sentinels the entire time. And the adults take turns being sentinels watching for predators so all adults get to relax and eat. I counted 15 juveniles and because of the difference in size of the juveniles, the 3 families hatched at different times. I do hope this is all young for this year. As I explained in an earlier blog, our small lake sometimes has more Canada Geese than the lake can actually support. But that said, these baby geese are so cute! And so attentive to their parents. And they ate and ate and ate. Cleon will have to throw more seed on the ground for the Red-winged Blackbirds, cowbirds, and doves that frequent the area. Yesterday, he saw a Chipping Sparrow in the front garden for the first time this year. We most always have at least one nesting pair and they will also eat on the ground under the feeders. The geese just left so I imagine there is not one seed left anywhere under those feeders. 15 youngsters and 6 parents can eat a whole lot of seed!