California's Great Goose Lineup: Canada Geese

Last fall, we looked at a few key players in California's great goose lineup, migratory waterfowl that travel south from their Arctic breeding grounds to spend the winter in our Great Central Valley.  Those species include the Greater White-fronted Goose, the Snow Goose, and the Ross's Goose.  (Click the links to catch up on these three neat species!)  Merced National Wildlife Refuge is an excellent place to see all three of these species together, and get an ear-full of their great goose cacophony!  Greater White-fronted Geese show up first, beginning in September; in October, Snow Geese begin arriving in great numbers; and by November, large numbers of Ross's Geese will have arrived as well.  Numbers of all three peak in the tens of thousands in December and January.

But today, I think another more familiar goose deserves some time in the spotlight.  And so I bring you... the Canada Goose.

Ah yes, the ubiquitous Canada (not "Canadian") Goose.  Who among us does not have fond childhood memories of time spent at our local park, watching the geese, feeding the geese... being hissed at and subsequently chased by the geese...

The Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) is at home anywhere and everywhere there is a combination of open water and grass.  Lawns are an appealing source of food for these grazing geese, and their open, well-maintained expanses offer good visibility as a first line of defense against predators.  In the "wild," outside of urban and suburban park-like habitat, Canada Geese are found in marshy areas across much of the United States and Canada.  Northernmost populations of breeding Canada Geese move south into the U.S. for the winter, augmenting the populations that stick around in the Lower 48 year-round.

Common, yes, but the Canada Goose is still a beauty!

While some older range maps indicate Canada Geese are present in California only during the winter months, this is no longer the case.  These days, they are very present breeders here in the Central Valley, where they are successful to the point of over-abundance.  In towns and cities, where parks, college campuses and golf courses provide lush expanses of grass for grazing, and ornamental ponds for paddling and dabbling, Canada Goose populations boom.  A comparative lack of natural predators in man-made environments contributes to their success.  In fact, many owners and managers of these appealingly landscaped habitats consider Canada Geese to be a nuisance, going to great lengths and expense to have them deterred and removed.

On the other hand, if you have a pond and grassy area on your own expansive property and would like to attract some of these charismatic critters, you can learn how to build a nesting platform for them at Cornell's NestWatch site.

Canada Geese subsist on a diet of grasses and sedges during the summer breeding months, switching to feed on berries and grains during the winter.  In towns and cities, however, they graze on the lawn grass of parks and golf courses year-round, raising questions about the possibility of a lack of certain nutrients in their diet, which wild geese acquire through a seasonal diet shift.

In the spring, female Canada Geese choose nest sites on the ground, near water, often on slightly elevated areas to afford a better view of approaching danger.  The female then builds her nest of plant material, lined with feathers.  She alone incubates her clutch of two to eight eggs, staying on the nest for 25 to 28 days, until the young hatch.  Meanwhile, her mate stays close by, actively and aggressively defending the nest.  

While there are not too many predators of adult Canada geese, eggs and goslings are tasty prey items for a number of other animals, including foxes, raccoons, skunks, gulls, raptors, corvids (ravens, crows, etc.), and even snakes.  The male's job as guardian is an important one!

A few years ago, when we lived in an apartment complex across the street from our local university campus, a Canada Goose built her nest on top of a carport roof, beneath the sheltering branches of a pine tree.  It was constructed of pine needles, and offered an excellent view, safety from predators and shelter from the elements.  The catch, of course, was the long drop from the carport roof to the ground for the newly hatched young, followed immediately by the treacherous journey across a busy road to the nearest pond, 75 yards away.  One spring morning when I checked on the nest and found it empty, I headed over to the pond and was delighted to discover the newly hatched little family, paddling about on the water.  Clearly they made their nighttime journey just fine, and mama goose knew what she was about all along.

An unconventional nest location, atop a carport!

Precocial young Canada Geese leave the nest after only a day or two, at which point they are able to walk, swim, dive and feed themselves.  They stay close to their parents, however, and the female continues to brood her young while they are sleeping and during inclement weather for the first week or so of their lives.  She and her mate also fiercely defend them from the aforementioned lineup of predators!

Shortly after hatching, Canada Geese are fluffy and yellow.

But they grow extremely quickly!

Oh, those awkward teenage years...

As the season progresses, Canada Geese stay together in large flocks, members of which are generally related.  Pairs mate for the duration of their potentially 30-year lifespan, and remain together throughout the year.  Interestingly, the birds appear to choose mates based on size: smaller males mate with smaller females, etc. 

A pair defending their young.  Approach at your own peril!

This tendency has led to a number of differently sized subspecies, eleven of which have been documented, differentiated by subtle differences in size and color.  Darker subspecies occur in the west, and smaller subspecies are found in the north.  The four smallest subspecies have been lumped together and split into their own separate species, the diminutive Cackling Goose (Branta hutchinsii). 

Scarcely larger than a Mallard, the stubby-billed, short-necked Cackling Goose is its own distinct species.

For me, the sound of a flock of migrating Canada Geese drifting down on the first chill breeze of autumn stirs something deep inside.  Like the smell of wood smoke and falling leaves, it signifies a change of seasons, a respite of quiet beauty between ushering out summer and heralding winter.

From the Merrigold Press 1958 children's book "Birds," illustrated by Eloise Wilkin.
I poured over the pictures in this book as a child, and this particular image still comes to mind at the sound of migrating Canada Geese blowing on the cool autumn wind.