![]() ![]() In such places Cackling Geese form dense nesting colonies. Smaller territories are common where nesting habitat is at a premium, such as on the Aleutian Islands. Once returned to the nest site, both male and female are highly territorial, defending the nest vicinity in particular, though the defended territory may be as small as 30 square feet. ![]() With rare exceptions, they are monogamous. Leaves nest within 24 hours of hatching with the ability to swim and feed.Ĭackling Geese partner for life, and they mate during spring migration, as they near their nesting areas. Nesting FactsĬovered with down and eyes open. The dimensions of nests vary the inner part of the bowl is usually about 6 inches across. She constructs the nest of grasses, sedges, twigs, leaves, lichens, and mosses, and lines it with down feathers as she lays the eggs. The female first scrapes the ground and removes some plants before shaping a depression on the ground. ![]() The female selects the nest site in tundra among sedges or other short plants, in a dry, elevated patch (hummock), or on an island in a tundra lake. They also consume pasture and meadow grasses, as well as planted grasses in golf courses, parks, and suburban areas. In saltmarshes, Cackling Geese may eat plants like saltmeadow hay and eelgrass, but usually these are food for the larger Canada Geese. Native plants such as burreed, hornwort, knotweed, and rushes may form part of the diet in freshwater wetlands. During migration and on the wintering grounds, they forage on agricultural crops and waste grain, including wheat, rye, oats, corn, rice, alfalfa, sorghum, barley, soy, and clover. On the breeding grounds, they eat sedges, grasses, rushes, spike-rushes, seeds, and even berries, including cranberry, crowberry, and blueberry. Cackling Geese also forage by digging up the rhizomes and roots of some plants. They feed by walking slowly and grazing, pulling at the plant and cutting off the preferred part with serrations on the bill. For most of their lives, Cackling Geese feed in family groups, both on the breeding and wintering grounds, and families migrate together in autumn, joining with other family groups to form large flocks. Their diet varies remarkably across their large breeding and wintering ranges. Back to top FoodĬackling Geese eat mostly plant matter, especially grasses and grasslike plants. Their patterns of distribution during winter often shift according to agricultural practices. They rest, bathe, and roost on lakes and reservoirs. They forage in freshwater marshes, saltmarshes, mudflats, meadows, and agricultural fields. A few pairs have nested farther south, in prairie habitat of central Canada, on islands in small lakes.ĭuring migration and winter, Cackling Geese gather in flocks in open, mostly treeless habitats. In Nunavut, they also nest on cliffs and steep rocky slopes. Farther east, the intermediate-sized subspecies ( hutchinsii) nests in high arctic tundra along rivers and in tundra ponds southward into coastal marshlands along the western shore of Hudson Bay. In northern and western Alaska, the largest of the four subspecies ( taverneri) selects tundra habitat near rivers, among dwarf willow and other shrubby plants. They forage in their nesting habitat, which includes diverse grasses as well as flowering plants such as species of angelica, cow parsnip, buttercup, spring beauty, willow-herb, wild geranium, and violets. The next-smallest subspecies ( leucopareia) nests on the Aleutian Islands, often on steep grassy slopes above shoreline cliffs. They forage nearby, in lush meadows of sedges and grasses. Pairs usually select a small island within a pond for nesting. The smallest subspecies ( minima) breeds mostly on the tundra plains of Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, where there are many ponds. Cackling Geese breed in subarctic and arctic habitats in Canada and Alaska.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |