Update on the problem ganders at the lake--mean brown Chinese is gone!

[desertdarlene]

I have seen no goslings at all ever hatched at that lake. I have a feeling that most of the geese there are male, though the only ones I know for sure are the Chinese ones. There was a brown female Chinese goose there once, but she got hit by a car. I do see that one pair with the gray and white and I wonder if they're male and female, but I can't tell.

Perhaps, next year, there will be goslings. We had a lot of ducklings there this year and I usually don't see many of those there until this year. It could be because the swans died early in the ducklings season. Right after the swans died, there was an explosion of ducklings which makes me think the swans may have been killing some of them in the past. The same might be true of goslings.

But, at another lake, there are definitely males and females and I haven't seen any goslings there, either. I don't know why. There were duck eggs laid, but no one ever saw any ducklings. My suspicion is that people were taking the eggs.

 

[Miss Lydia]

your probably right about people taking the eggs. Sorry to hear the Swans died what was wrong with them or was it from old age. I know absolutely nothing about Swans except they are beautiful.

 

[desertdarlene]

I think it was mostly old age, they've been there for as long as I can remember. Someone said a predator got them, but more likely a predator fed on them after they died. One died early in the spring and the other, I think, died around late April/May. They were domesticated with pinioned wings from what I understand.

 

[glenntwo]

"I have a feeling that most of the geese there are male, though the only ones I know for sure are the Chinese ones. "

I have come across three public parks where people have dropped off geese now, and at every one there were mostly Chinese ganders. I came to the conclusion that people drop off the males because they can be so loud. If that's the case , it's probably the same reason you see no goslings. No females=no nests.

 

[Miss Lydia]

What do the parks do with them all? Do they try to thin out the population or just let them struggle the best they can. I know alot of people probably feed them, but it's heart breaking for me to see them not being cared for properly.

 

[desertdarlene]

I think they get picked off by predators, one by one. I know one got hit by a car a few years back around the time the two Chinese ones were dropped off and I would think that some of the others might have been, too. I know these aren't the same geese that were there when I first started visiting this lake 20 years ago and they're not even the same ones I've seen even in the last 10 years.

20 years ago, they lived in another area of the park and I know of at least two that were killed by coyotes in one month before they were moved to another area. They were almost all Chinese geese back then. Now we have a mix of other breeds.

Other than that, I don't know what happens to them. None of them can fly except for the 3 tame Canada geese and they don't even fly that much.

At the other, smaller, lake, they do get cared for better and I think I heard about a staff member taking injured ones home. Perhaps they adopt them from that lake. I know coyotes get them, too, but not as much as they have a fence surrounding the entire area.

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

the bottom one is a saddleback pomeranian... just like in my avatar. ours is super grumpy too.

 

[desertdarlene]

chickensducks&agoose :

the bottom one is a saddleback pomeranian... just like in my avatar

Oh, cool! I wondered about those when I saw some pictures of them. How are they in temperament? This one's cranky off and on.​

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

Mine attacks all men, and sometimes me too... we got her as an adult, and she is very, very protective of our young goose, and tries relentlessly to kill our gander. and my father in law. I like her, the kids don't.

 

[desertdarlene]

Well, I thought I would update this after many months. The brown Chinese's bad behavior got way worse. It got to the point where he would run up to me and constantly attack me no matter what I did. The white one (called Louie) actually came to my defense several times and pushed him away from me or nipped him on the back when he started to get aggressive. This happened about once a month and then he was fine for a while.

Then, the rest of the flock came back from across the lake as the grass turned brown there and the brown one began to look very sad and sorry. He didn't eat much and slept a lot. He also started limping, again (the first time had gotten better). Louie would stick by him, but a funny thing started to happen. He began to slowly "ditch" the brown Chinese (called by lake staff "the mean one"). However, the brown Chinese would immediately start screaming his head off when that happen, so he would come back to him.

Last Sunday, the brown one seemed fine, alert, and not even limping that much. A young girl chased them into the water where he and the white one swam around until Louie spotted someone feeding the ducks. He immediately went over there and the brown one lagged behind. That was the last time I saw the brown one.

By last Tuesday, the brown one was gone, not a sight or sound of him. It is sooooo much quieter and less stressed over there. Louie was getting beat up by the rest of the flock, at first, but I am slowly starting to see him getting accepted by the other geese. He rarely ever makes noise and totally ignores me. So far, it's so much better! My only concern is that I hope there reason why the brown one is gone isn't because a human did something to him. I wonder if someone was coming around once a month or so and doing something to him, making him rage against people who get too close. This would be the time of month he would go into his rage.

That gray grumpy one also changed his tune once he was back from across the lake. No problems with him at all, lately. It might change again next breeding season, though.