When I spot Canada Goose parents floating along with goslings in the spring, it usually looks something like this:
So imagine my surprise when I saw this sight at a pond in our city in mid-May:
There were 31 goslings! I couldn’t even fit them all into one photo—-dad is just outside the shot with several more straggler goslings.
Because geese are social, they sometimes cooperatively raise young or adopt strays. It looks like babysitting, but it’s called crèching. These parents must have good Yelp reviews!
Things got a little chaotic for a bit during their outing as goslings started floating away in all different directions:
But eventually the adults got everyone back in line. I thought it was cute that they eventually formed a “V” (but in reverse!), like adult Canada Geese do when they fly in flocks together:
