Goose Tale

by Anita Sixta
Summer 2003

his adventure literally took place on our apartment balcony, which just goes to prove you never know how wildlife will adapt. They still return to visit with the young, though they are some mighty big babies now!

Mama Goose staked out her "nest" last year before she migrated, if you can believe it! I never dreamt she'd come back to use it. The nest box, was actually my herb garden that's been invaded every year by something, though once the geese found it, it became hers.

I didn't get my marigolds planted til they left. And my chair sits right up to the glass, so I could literally turn around and we were "beak to beak"... she got used to us peeking, from a distance.

 

My husband and I are ham radio operators, and he had to move an antennae for easier landing for them... you should have seen him duck thru the door when Papa Goose came flying in, hissing and tongue sticking out! :)

 

 

 

Before she laid her eggs, she fell out of the box, and since the balcony is not very big, got stuck. You should have seen us trying to pick her up and set her back in the box while she was flapping and slapping us in the face and head. We took turns, until I finally got her out. That was when Gene decided to get a bag of straw, so she'd stop leaning out of the box, trying to pull his antennae coax wire off the building. He didn't want her to fall out of the box once she was sitting the eggs.

I never saw the hen leave the nest or eat anything (I work nights and sleep days,) but my husband assured me that she would sometimes look wet, or have some grass hanging from her beak, and she didn't appear to lose any weight.

After the babies hatched, we were terrified that they would fall since we're on the 2nd floor. (I believe that's why she chose it for her nest because babies have been killed in the past.) But baby geese leave the nest shortly after they hatch and long before they can fly, unlike songbirds.

 

 

My husband very daringly charged out as soon as mom and dad were swimming and bathing, grabbed the whole box, and ran thru the apartment and down to the pond with the babies, where they joined their parents.

 

 

Needless to say, they come running for food now when they see us. Although that's not unusual for Canada geese, she sure wasn't allowing us anywhere near her when she had those eggs. And everytime I see them I still count beaks to make sure everyone's still OK...