Goslings on the move

Yesterday afternoon I had an appointment in Augusta. I left around noon and drove the back way out to Route 17 in Washington. I travel over the Calderwood Road a small narrow road there are no power lines so the road has a remote “in the woods” feel. At the bottom of the first hill is a medium sized brook, not a trickle but a year round brook that in the spring gets attention from trout fishermen.

As I came down the hill there in the middle of the road were a pair of Canada Geese and eight goslings that I would guess to be a couple of weeks old. They were still covered in their yellow down but were not the little fuzzballs that they are when first hatched. After considerable maneuvering I was able to get by the family but only after one of the adults took to the air to lead me away. I can’t even imagine how the goose planned to land back down on that narrow road.

The real question though is what were they doing so far back in the woods? Canada Geese are grass eaters and need a fair amount of room to take off and land. They are not what you would call woodland creatures. I can only speculate that the nest had been further up the brook in a beaver flowage and as the spring progressed water levels dropped; the chosen spot had become less desirable. So the family struck out on foot looking for greener pastures so to speak. Hope that they all made it.