Mating game under way as honkers return

By Brian Hansel (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Finding a Canada goose in this part of Minnesota is no great trick but you still notice it when they start returning from their wintering grounds.

Most Canadas that leave Minnesota in the winter only fly as far as southern Missouri. Some honkers just stay here and tough it out but this depends on how much food they can find.

The Canadas started returning a couple of weeks ago and they have been appearing in growing numbers as they seek out spots with open water, mates, places to nest and fields to feed. Geese are early nesters. They do not really care if there is snow on the ground yet or not, they are back and that is that. It’s not their fault if we are experiencing a late bout with winter.

The return of Canadas has become an annual event in this part of the country so a lot of us have lost our wonder at it — but anyone who knows them has to admit that the Canada goose is quite a fowl.

They grow big (a wing span of five to six feet), smart and tough and they can fly amazingly fast. They and can handle a lot of bad weather and other punishment. They mate for life and they are very protective parents.

Perhaps their greatest claim to fame is their adaptability. They can fit into a metro environment as easily as a rural one. I remember once seeing a flock of Canadas feeding at an elevator near the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis. The Twin Cities are burdened with so many geese that they have to stage a goose roundup to remove birds from their urban haunts.

Fergus Falls has had a big flock of geese for decades and many residents are dismayed by the way they mess up the sidewalks and chew down the grass.

You will not find a lot of farmers that are fond of them either. The first shoots of wheat and the first crop of goslings arrive about the same time. The little, yellow robbers will follow their folks right off the nest and into the nearest wheat field. They are also fond of soybeans and they have good appetites. Their growth rate is astonishing. Over the summer they go from the egg to a bird weighing 8-10 pounds.

The Canada goose averages 5-6 eggs per nest but studies have shown that local giants are much more prolific than their Eastern Prairie Population cousins that nest near Hudson’s Bay in northern Canada.

The state of Minnesota has hunting seasons for Giant Canadas that stretch from September to December with only a couple of short breaks, yet these big, noisy birds thrive here. When the EPP honkers come down to join the local giants in mid-to-late September, their numbers can approach 30,000 in the Fergus area.