The Geese

For a while, the geese gave me a reason to come back. I had spotted a nesting goose along the train tracks and thought it my duty to visit her everyday. And so I did, not everyday, but every other, for about a week. I found her around the first of May, and watched her up until the class field trip to Rainier. I’m sure she hated me, as I mentioned, but I saw her as a friend. I learned geese nest for about a month, only leaving for quick trips to grab a drink. So I was not surprised, to find an empty nest and hatched eggs when I returned. I figured; the first thing I had seen when I walked up to the dam were two families of geese at the end of the west inlet. I saw at least four more families along the tracks before I had reached the nest… at least there was a successful hatching. I still like to visit the empty nest whenever I go.

On Friday, May 20th, I took a bike ride through the Capitol Lake Interpretive Center, reaching the Tumwater Historical Park. There was geese a plenty. No doubt in my mind that it is indeed breeding season. I have never been hissed at more in my life than by geese that day.

An interesting observation: with mallard ducks, the females seem to be in charge, the males following their lead. With Canadian Geese, the male seems to be in charge, whenever he moves, the family follows; I watch the mother and babies eat, the father just stands there, watching over, he’s also the one that hisses at me. This may be a difference of species or a different situation: breeding vs. protecting. I can tell it’s the male because he is a bit larger than the female, his quack is also deeper.

I returned about a week and a half later and, not surprisingly, the geese were gone. The only thing that remained was their aging poop, literally carpeting the grass. The few mallards I had seen on my first trip were still there though; maybe not the exact ones.