Decorah Geese and Blogs

Goose Cam Shutdown Announcement

April 26, 2023: Mother Goose and gosling

We’re shutting down the goose cam! The goslings leapt on April 26th and the occasional visitors to N2B don’t appear interested in laying eggs. If anything changes, we can turn it back on. Thanks so much for watching the geese with us this year! If you’d like to relive the goslings (so cute!), we have a video: https://youtu.be/K8CfsP4Zyu4. If you’d like to read more about them, follow this link: https://www.raptorresource.org/tag/canada-goose/. And click here for other birds to watch and follow:

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April 27, 2023: The injured gosling

We’re sorry to let everyone know that six didn’t make it. In reviewing the footage, it appears the gosling hit a branch on the way down and suffered a severe spinal injury. We can remove logs and dead wood from the bottom of the tree, but we can’t do much about large living limbs and we aren’t going to discourage nesting in N2B. Five out of six goslings survived the jump. This translates to a survival rate of 83%, which

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April 26, 2023: The goslings make the leap of faith!

April 26, 2023: The goslings this morning shortly before MG left the nest. When they didn't jump yesterday - they were pretty rambunctious! - we thought it might happen early this morning. But we were still surprised at how quickly it went!

The goslings jumped this morning at about 7:29 AM. After watching them yesterday afternoon, we thought the jump might occur pretty early today, but we were still surprised at how quickly it happened! Within just a few minutes of MG’s departure, all of the goslings had joined their parents on the ground. Our camera operators were only able to find five of them, so we headed into the underbrush to find #6 hidden under a log. We tried reuniting little

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April 25, 2023: Gosling Hatch!

April 25, 2023: Goslings!

Goose hatch started yesterday and we think they might leap today! Some videos: April 24, 2023: 1st gosling hatch 2:27 pm: https://youtu.be/MG7EIs2Xrec April 24, 2023: 7:28pm Decorah Goose Cam: https://youtu.be/NnQvLmSl9tw April 24, 2023: Decorah Geese. And then there were 2! https://youtu.be/sDKV2p9lqmI April 24, 2023: Two hatches at Decorah Goose Cam! https://youtu.be/J6JOCgYQO0k April 25, 2023: Decorah Goose Cam~Ma Goose Tosses Egg Shell Off Nest-You Can Hear It Land: https://youtu.be/23755A7FFbs April 25, 2023: Precious goslings peeking out: https://youtu.be/X5HjEKk_J3I April 25, 2023: Good

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Canada Geese: Precocial versus Altricial

April 28, 2022: The goslings about 36 hours after hatch.

As watchers know, Canada geese are nesting in an abandoned bald eagle nest in Decorah, Iowa. N2B – currently a goose nest – is located about 700 feet east of N1, where HM and HD are nesting. We believe that hatch will begin on or around Saturday, April 22. You can watch that nest here; https://www.raptorresource.org/birdcams/decorah-goose-cam/. This blog discusses some of the differences between altricial eagles and precocial geese!  Altricial eaglets rely on parental care until they fledge. But goslings

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April 20, 2023: Amazing HD!

April 20, 2023: HD brooded through rain, snow, and graupel today, keeping DH2 safe and warm beneath him.

Rain and hail made it a long morning for HD, who spent most of it protecting DH2 from the weather. His rain-soaked feathers were glossy and slicked with water but – like another wonderful eagle Dad who nested here – he continued his watch. I am in awe as our eagles once again show us what they will endure to protect their offspring. Eagles are incredible! Decorah Eagles April 20, 2023: HD spectacular wind-complicated landing, beautiful fly-off from Y –

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April 13, 2023: Nestflix and news!

April 11, 2023: A tiny adorable poop shoot!

We have your NestFlix! I enjoyed all of these videos, but I especially loved DH2 getting feisty with Dad (go, DH2!), the tiny cute PS, and the close-up of Mother Goose! We hope you enjoy the videos as much as we did and we’re looking forward to our hatch fundraiser tomorrow! Looking for more hatchling eaglets? The Fort St. Vrain nest started hatch yesterday! You can watch that site here: https://www.raptorresource.org/birdcams/xcel-energy-cams/ and keep up with it on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/445733962172528.

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Fourth and Fifth Egg for Mother Goose!

March 28, 2023: Mother Goose and her eggs.

And then there were four eggs! Mother Goose actually has five eggs now, but she laid her fourth on March 26. Note the poop! I’m wondering if it is intentional, or at least conditioned. Some birds – the Eurasian Hoopoe for example – deter predators by coating their eggs in an antimicrobial secretion that makes them smell rotten and inedible. We humans are extremely visual and struggle to see the scent-painted world that informs the umwelt of many animals around

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March 25, 2023: A third egg for Mother Goose!

March 25, 2023: Some of you love geese and some of you hate them. As someone who was chased by geese as a child, I understand why people don't like them! But MG is beautiful!

And then there were three! Mother Goose laid her third egg at 7:06 AM this morning. She laid six eggs between March 24 and April 1 last year and started full incubation on March 28. How many will she lay this year? Videos Mother Goose lays her 3rd egg: https://youtu.be/G5NX0MA3pK4 Goose lays egg #3 in abandoned eagle nest: https://youtu.be/ck5Z-wqs9Xk Mom Goose plucks down from her brood patch to help line the egg cup: https://youtu.be/VUn4bOQ26D8 (pretty cool and not something that

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