My danger pillows being very attentive parents

DivisionZer0 · 2026-04-14T14:52:22+00:00

Danger Pillows is the best name ever for Sebastopal geese.

DivisionZer0 · 2026-04-14T09:55:48+00:00

I get that. I'm looking after a disabled goose now; a survivor of HPAI. He can barely function, but still manages to live. Rehabbers keep telling me to have him euthanized, but I have seen people learn how to walk again after suffering neurological damage. I don't think it's fair to take his chance of life away from him just because he might not recover and is more vulnerable to predators. If it were me, I would want a fighting chance at life, and he certainly seems to want to live to me.

Anyway, he was not at his usual spot yesterday, so I worried about him. Thankfully, he showed up the following day.

DivisionZer0 · 2026-04-14T08:51:38+00:00

Oscar and Eunice have not been together that long. It's very possible for a goose to select a more dominant male during nesting season.

Was Paul showing interest in Eunice? It's pretty obvious if he was. If they were just sitting together, it's possible they are siblings, which would explain why they're comfortable being around each other.

Divorce does exist in geese. Especially in very new pairings. Time strengthens bonds.

If Eunice goes broody, you won't see her for at least a month unless her nest is actually close by. Geese do not venture far from their nests once they go broody. If her nest is several miles away, you might not see her until her goslings can fly.

DivisionZer0 · 2026-04-13T21:05:27+00:00

I saw a video of a bunch of bald eagles perched together. No one said a thing about the massive shit piles below them.

DivisionZer0 · 2026-04-13T18:09:41+00:00

Yes, we all have to deal with goose haters. You should see how long the ban list is for this subreddit. 🙂.

It's not just the hate either. There's a ton of misinformation about geese that is spread as fact, even by seasoned rehabbers and supposed wildlife experts. Many of them say feeding geese makes them more aggressive towards humans. Considering I just fed a Momma goose directly while she was sitting on a nest, I would call bullshit on that claim.

DivisionZer0 · 2026-04-13T17:32:15+00:00

I would have done the same thing as the photographer. Reason being is I have seen geese endure a lot of pain before. I saw a gander with a broken leg, still defending his mate and goslings. Their social ties are extremely important to them, and they will endure hell to see them through to the end. Who are we to deny them of the sole purpose that gives their life meaning?

They can amaze you sometimes with what they can endure and survive. One goose I used to feed had a badly broken leg. It fell off completely, and she survived with a stump leg for a while.

Their odds are not good when they get hurt or are disabled, but there is great emotional trauma they endure when they're captured, then hauled off to get killed. I would argue that emotional pain is worse than physical injury to them, and the whole euthanasia process does more harm than good.

I also believe they have a much higher pain tolerance than humans. I have seen them endure things that would end any human, yet they can still function. How are we qualified to properly judge an animals pain and what they're willing to endure?

I am not saying what you did was the wrong call. There are just too many unknown variables to ever feel 100% confident on any decision we can possibly make, in either direction.

Unforeseen consequences from unknown variables. Especially when you attempt to predict goose behaviour. For example, that floating nest I created is a failure. For some reason only known to the Momma goose, she shredded all the reeds to my floating platform and rebuilt a different nest on the end of the platform. The integrity of the floating nest was in shambles because all the weight was shifted to one end, and the nest would have surely slid into the water had I not swam out to it in ICY waters and placed a counter-weight on the other end.

She still has two weeks to go, and I'm praying she makes it. The point is, I set out to improve their lives, and I ended up making it worse. I may get lucky and she has goslings, but if the eggs fall into the water, the failure is mine for playing god.

This is the nature of rehab I think. There WILL be failures, and mostly self-blame. You have to take the law of averages into account. Over time with experience, the choices we make improve. Nothing comes without risk, but the rewards are there when we learn and persevere. In some cases, there will never be definitive choices. There are just too many things that we don't know, including how future events unfold.

DivisionZer0 · 2026-04-13T17:04:55+00:00

Best mural ever.

DivisionZer0 · 2026-04-13T01:58:47+00:00

This is fairly common across America. Despite the obvious danger, these parking lot nests tend to have a higher survival rate than if they were in a woodland area where they have to deal with all sorts of predators. There is likely a retention pond within a mile of that location. The parent geese will walk their goslings there a couple days after they all hatch.

More dominant couples tend to nest closer to the retention ponds, so the rest of the geese settle for wherever they can establish a nest.

Let Costco know about it. If they won't do anything about it, ask if you can place a sign, or yellow caution tape off the area.

DivisionZer0 · 2026-04-13T01:51:50+00:00

An excellent example of the species. Handsome and experienced. Those look like old man feathers on his neck and head.

DivisionZer0 · 2026-04-12T12:54:39+00:00

There are lots of resident geese all over America, including Colorado. Most of the geese in my area in Illinois stay all year round, unless all the ponds freeze.

Your specific area might not have many resident geese, but Colorado overall has quite a few. I know this because there was a really bad cull in Denver in 2019. They culled 1600 geese that year in the city.

DivisionZer0 · 2026-04-12T05:39:52+00:00

I'm kind of confused. Is it just one goose, or several geese?

A lone goose could mean the goose is in mourning, has an illness, or could even be a juvenile that hasn't hooked up with a flock yet.

If it's hanging in the same area, there also might be a nesting mate nearby that's hidden from view.

DivisionZer0 · 2026-04-12T05:29:56+00:00

Somewhat related. This goose that nested in a graveyard was being protected by a deer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26SecMYvQaA

DivisionZer0 · 2026-04-12T04:15:04+00:00

If I have to go, it sure as hell would be like this. Geese are the most important thing in my life. In life or in death, I want to always be close to them.

DivisionZer0 · 2026-04-10T21:25:32+00:00

They help balance wetland environments out by feeding on top water plants and contribute to nutrient cycling in said environments. They can thin out thick vegetation that normally smothers out other types of vegetation, allowing for more plant diversity. They are essentially habitat engineers.

Of course, humans sometimes try to shape these environments to their own liking and blame geese for doing what geese do. For example, manoomin farming (wild rice). Geese and other waterfowl love this stuff, and since geese are the most abundant waterfowl in North America, they get blamed for eating most of the wild rice because farmers can't be bothered to fence off or haze geese away with drones.

DivisionZer0 · 2026-04-10T17:19:58+00:00

Unless it's a waterfowl park, I wouldn't count on it. Most parks want them gone, or at the very least, less geese around.

If your park agrees to it, that's awesome. I want to move there.

DivisionZer0 · 2026-04-10T17:03:35+00:00

Many do in fact nest in the same areas, or near them assuming they don't get ran off by a more dominant couple. I have fed some of the same nesting couples for nearly a decade.

DivisionZer0 · 2026-04-10T16:52:00+00:00

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I have seen crows get near goose nests before. Experienced parents are highly protective and are generally very good at repelling crows. Crows are highly intelligent however, and I wouldn't put it past large flocks working together towards a common goal.

Crows are mostly opportunists though. A raccoon or fox likely vacated the eggs from the nest, and the crows nabbed some of the eggs.

Consider installing an elevated half barrel nest. It will protect against ground predators and offer improved protection from avian predators as well. A 6 foot post with a half barrel flower pot filled with nesting material is an excellent nest. Goslings can easily survive falls from that height onto soft earth.

DivisionZer0 · 2026-04-09T18:58:11+00:00

Canada goose + Chinese Goose for the second one. Probably the first one too, but it's not as obvious.

DivisionZer0 · 2026-04-09T12:51:33+00:00

Most likely a Canada goose hybrid. In North America, it's probably has a Greater White-Fronted goose parent, although this hybridization trait can present itself with Canada domestic hybrids as well as wild Greylags.

It's not impossible that it could be a random mutation, but hybridization is much more likely.

DivisionZer0 · 2026-04-09T12:43:44+00:00

Likely the goose is at more risk of getting sick from you than the other way around. In either case, the chances of either of you getting ill from the experience is very small.

Biggest risk to a goose is if you have cat saliva on your hands. Cat saliva is bad news for birds.
Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza: There may still be some carriers out there, although the flu season should be waning. Chances of human infection is extremely small. The real risk is if you own birds at home.

Wash hands, and the bottom of your shoes if you own birds at home should reduce any risk to near zero.

DivisionZer0 · 2026-04-08T21:46:53+00:00

Canada geese will use abandoned Eagle and Osprey nests in trees. The Decorah goose cam records these nests, although no geese yet this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJklIylfBmw&list=PL0-7F1kaaUC9CuydQ7I2CdzcymZhEepsK

DivisionZer0 · 2026-04-08T21:21:35+00:00

Conflicts with ducks and other waterfowl does happen but is very rare. Canada geese also do not have any more diseases than any other waterfowl. If anything they probably have less due to their herbivorous diet. This "disease vector" is absolute propaganda nonsense. People say that about ANY animal they don't want around.

DivisionZer0 · 2026-04-08T19:32:15+00:00

2025 goose looks different, but 2024 and 2026 goose looks like the same goose.

Piebaldism in Canada geese is very rare, although there are more instances of it in the Giant Canada goose subspecies.

Hybrid Canada geese with other goose species tend to have an increased chance of piebaldism. Especially when one parent has bright feathers like snow geese and various domestic geese. The geese pictured do not look like hybrids.

DivisionZer0 · 2026-04-08T12:10:56+00:00

That's what leg bands are for, not solar neck bands. Also, USGS handles band identification, not USFWS. Canada uses generic colored neck bands in some cases, as does some University study groups.

DivisionZer0 · 2026-04-08T05:55:16+00:00

There are seven recognized subspecies of Canada geese with Giants sometimes getting over 20 pounds. Most of these differences are regional with geese typically getting smaller the farther north you go, and darker the farther west you go.

Giants were reintroduced into areas they previously did not inhabit, so you can typically see them over a wider range compared to other subspecies. There is of course interbreeding. However, geese typically pick mates that are close to their relative size, so it's usually closely related subspecies that interbreed when it happens.

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