Canada Goose: questions about pair loyalty

[nathanielfirst]

So i just had some questions out of curiosity:

1. A mated pair is running around, suppose the male, or female, beccomes flightless / breaks a wing but survives; will their mate most likely abandon them, or stay with? I know the flock will abandon a flightless bird but I'm asking about mates.

2. There is a mated pair, but the male, or female, is sequestered well away for a length of time (week, month, half a year, year), and the mate mourns. But, their partner is brought back, miraculously alive! Do they remate together, or did the separation kill the bond off?

 

[Canadageeselover88]

I was wondering the same thing because I go to this lake and this one pair the female has a limp but the gander seems distant from her from what I been seeing. So I was wondering do they just leave their mate if the one is injured?

 

[Gray Farms]

A mature bonded pair will typically always stay together unless one dies, wild or domestic. If one is injured they will stay together. If separated then reunited I see no reason why they wouldn't "get back together". Geese really do pair for life. Even in flocks where there are several pairs the males will typically only mate their female and defend her from other males. And usually defend her nesting spot from other females. Now if the females out number the males in a flock the male will mate other females. But will usually stay with his mate the majority of the time.

I had a pair of Africans years ago that were together for 17 years. The male was 17 when he died, female was 23. She was 3 when they "got together". And in the last few years the female developed a little limp from her old age most likely. And the male, who was younger, would keep her pace. He'd never get to far from her. And if she need to stop and rest he would as well. They nested and set every year until the male died. And after he died the female never set again and never took another mate. And the year he died I truly believe she mourned him. She just didn't act herself for a long time. She died three years after he did.