Mother Goose laid her first egg of 2025 in N1 on Sunday, March 9, at 11:31 AM CDT. Based on our data, I believe she’ll lay egg #2 on March 11 between 8 and 11AM, although birds have tricked me before! Is this the goose we watched last year? We don’t know, although we do know that she started laying 10 days earlier than the geese did last year. Having said that, almost all of our birds have laid early so far. Video here: https://youtu.be/m24N3T3VT_8?si=QNr8WrJRbB6yVHFW
A few of you asked about the nest. Geese don’t build stick nests, but instead incorporate nearby materials: vegetation and dirt or mud if they are nesting on the ground, and sticks and humus if they are nesting in an abandoned Bald Eagle nest. Watchers are often surprised by geese on high, but this behavior was documented well before the Bald Eagle’s precipitous decline. I believe we are watching an instinctive behavior that dwindled along with eagles and their nests. Now that eagles are back, Canada Geese are once again using nests.
Mother Goose won’t start full incubation until after she lays egg #4 or #5. If you check in and don’t see anything, it means she’s hidden her eggs by burying them under debris: https://www.raptorresource.org/birdcams/decorah-goose-cam/
In 2024, Mother Goose laid egg #2 about 46 hours after egg #1, egg #3 about 23 hours after egg #2, egg #4 about 48-1/2 hours after egg #3, and egg #5 about 24 hours after egg #5.
The Raptor Resource Project