New Arrivals Chased Away By Resident Geese
Posted: 24 February 2014
I was awoken this morning, shortly after 08:00, to the squawking of geese. Getting to the bedroom window I saw not three but four geese.
They were all manoeuvring behind the house, some with the characteristic horizontal neck that appears to signify a threat posture. I was too late to the window to work out which of those I caught in my first shot were our resident pair, which was "Baby" and which was the newcomer, but I suspect that "Baby" was the one in the rear and the new comer was heading for "Daddy Goose", who initially was refusing to respond to the threat.
Eventually, the one I took to be "Daddy" turned on the one I assumed to be the newcomer. Daddy rose up and, with wings stretched wide and flapping as if about to take off dashed across the surface of the lake, leaving footprint splashes on the surface. That was sufficient to see the visitor off.
It's left me with a thought. Is "Baby" male or female? And what will happen when "Mummy" does build her nest? Presumably, if a young male it will be chased off, but will a female hatched last year be ready to breed? Will she move off of her own accord with another male to find a site of their own, or will a second male manage to carve out an area of the lake as his own in which "Baby" will remain? I can only await developments - or a comment from someone who knows about these things!
