Goofy Little Goslings!

This week was special as two of the Canadian Geese pairs who had been nesting on beaver “huts” at the marsh, hatched their goslings. Females usually lay 5-7 eggs, with each one taking more than a day to lay.  They typically take a month to incubate and then 1-2 days for the baby to peck his way out of the egg. Goslings can see, walk and swim as soon as they are born and can dive and swim underwater more than 25 feet. From 6-9 weeks they will be able to take to the air as a family, however, generally only half the goslings will have survived.

When they are born they have pale yellow downy feathers and look like little ducks, but within a week they will turn a more familiar gray-brown. This little group was probably just a day old!