Goslings
by Elizabeth Winter
Title
Goslings
Artist
Elizabeth Winter
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
During the second year of their lives, Canada geese find a mate. They are monogamous, and most couples stay together all of their lives. If one dies, the other may find a new mate. The female lays from two to 9 eggs with an average of five, and both parents protect the nest while the eggs incubate, but the female spends more time at the nest than the male.
Its nest is usually located in an elevated area near water such as streams, lakes, ponds, and sometimes on a beaver lodge. Its eggs are laid in a shallow depression lined with plant material and down.
The incubation period, in which the female incubates while the male remains nearby, lasts for 24–28 days after laying. As the annual summer molt also takes place during the breeding season, the adults lose their flight feathers for 20–40 days, regaining flight about the same time as their goslings start to fly.[25]
As soon as the goslings hatch, they are immediately capable of walking, swimming, and finding their own food (a diet similar to the adult geese). Parents are often seen leading their goslings in a line, usually with one adult at the front, and the other at the back. While protecting their goslings, parents often violently chase away nearby creatures, from small blackbirds to lone humans who approach, after warning them by giving off a hissing sound and then attack with bites and slaps of the wings if the threat does not retreat or has seized a gosling. Most of the species that prey on eggs also take a gosling. Although parents are hostile to unfamiliar geese, they may form groups of a number of goslings and a few adults, called crèches.
The offspring enter the fledgling stage any time from 6 to 9 weeks of age. They do not leave their parents until after the spring migration, when they return to their birthplace
Uploaded
April 15th, 2016
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Comments (29)
Jake Danishevsky
Beautiful shot. They are so cute when they are young. Love shooting them. Wonderful capture Elizabeth.
Phyllis Kaltenbach
Congratulations, Your wonderful image has been Featured on "Fuzzy, Warm and Soft!
Laurie Search
Aww, this is so precious and adorable, Elizabeth!!! Love the reflections, too!!! :)))vf
Karen Slagle
Love this sweet image and the precious goslings...Makes me want to give them all a smooch...f/l
Mary Wolf
Such a delightful image of these sweet little goslings, Elizabeth. Beautifully captured! L/F