He is a young gander - he was hatched out by his parents last year along with his partner Echo. The name totally fits him, he is SO very full of himself, and has a comment for everything. No goose has challenged him - the first thing he did when I released him into the yard was put my Toulouse gander down on the ground. He did not, however, expect resistance from my Muscovy drake, who gave it right back to him and refused to be dominated, up until the really bad cold snap and the knob on his caruncle got frostbitten. He was less into fighting after that, and narcissus finally got the better of him... I can handle echo if I manage to catch him (he likes to cuddle), but Narcissus will have none of it. He goose steps off looking very indignant if I try...
I did take some videos of him and the other birds, and discovered that once again, tragedy had befallen the Toulouse. The goose came off her nest, and looked like a drowned rat. It has been so warm that the snow level dropped by over 2 feet overnight. Of course the ground is still frozen, as is the drainage ditch around the run in shed, and their nest (#2, since the first froze in a cold snap), was half submerged. I soaked myself squeezing in there and pulling the eggs out, but I removed a clutch of 4 that is now in the incubator with my calls. Two candled out with early veining, two looked to be laid within the past day or two, but I am not holding out much hope, since they were sitting in the meltwater overnight. I'll see in a week whether or not they made it...
In the meantime, I will process my goose videos and post one!
