If you’ve walked through the waterfowl park this spring, you may have noticed a pair of Canada Geese nested close by one of the boardwalks. Depending on your luck, you may also have noticed a rather perturbed gander hissing at you, or even chasing you away from his partner and her nest. Some people have shared their stories of encountering the excitable gander online, partly amused, partly terrified by the large bird.
CHMA met with Beth MacDonald on her way to work at Mount Allison’s ornithology lab, to find out more about these birds. We started off asking why this gander was being so aggressive with some passersby:
MacDonald says the perturbed gander is actually just being a good parent. “In this species, the female builds the nest and incubates the eggs, and it’s the male’s role to defend both her and and the egg,” says MacDonald. “So effectively, he’s just being territorial, and just kind of doing his job in terms of his contribution to the parental care.”
MacDonald says its not surprising behaviour. “If you think about the investment that they’re making in their offspring. They produce these big eggs, many eggs, that’s a lot of energy. She spends almost a month sitting on them. They spend a lot of time and energy in producing their offspring. And so it makes sense that they would invest behaviourally in taking care of them,” says MacDonald.
One mystery is why the gander reacts to some passersby and not others. MacDonald says it’s tough to say. “He’s reacting to a perceived threat, and it’s hard to say exactly what that threat is.”
“It could be that you happen to walk by at a moment where he was already on guard because there had been another goose around,” says MacDonald. “Or if you’re kind of standing watching that nest.”
Considering the amount of foot traffic alongside the nest every day, it could be that this particular gander is actually quite tolerant. “I’ve observed over the years that I’ve lived in Sackville that the birds in the Waterfowl Park tend to be fairly tame because they’re accustomed to people,” says MacDonald. “So I’ve actually noticed that the geese here are less aggressive than I would expect them to be.”
Canada Geese have a reputation for being tough, sometimes aggressive birds. MacDonald says their territorial and protective behaviour is actually common in birds, but because Canada Geese are so big, they can be threatening to humans, whereas the aggressive behaviour of a Redwinged Blackbird is not as intimidating.
And their reputation as nuisance birds is related to their propensity for hanging around spaces that humans also enjoy, like lawns, says MacDonald.
This particular pair of Canada Geese, as well as a number of others that are also nesting in the Waterfowl Park, will be around for a while yet, says MacDonald. Once they have their goslings, they will continue to be protective at least until their wee ones learn to fly, in two to three months. “They’re really good parents,” says MacDonald. “That’s why they’re so territorial.”
“We’ve created this wonderful habitat for them, and we share this habitat that we enjoy with all of these nesting birds,” says MacDonald. “So I think it’s just about kind of sharing it respectfully. Give them some space, keep your dogs on leash, that sort of thing. And I think we can all coexist here pretty pretty well.”
