Defying the Odds -- Baby Goslings in Central Park!

Camouflaged by dense foliage, a newly hatched gosling peeks out from under his mother's wing this morning at the Central Park Reservoir. Below him, a sibling.

Welcome to life, little ones.

 

Hansel was on the war path last night.

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Patiently putting up with pesky mallards the entire time his mate, Greta, sat on her eggs at the Central Park Reservoir, Hansel's tolerance had suddenly run out yesterday.  He aggressively chased all six mallard drakes away from the nesting site last night -- in one case, grabbing a piece of down the size of a golf ball from the backside of one of the drakes and sending the surprised and humiliated mallard flying across the water.  

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Something was obviously up.

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Peering through the dense foliage that has so camouflaged Greta throughout most of the nesting period, I was barely able to make out the tip of her head. But, she was stirring around in the nest as if something unusual was occurring.

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Greta finally sat down very carefully and rearranged her position.  And it was then, I was suddenly able to discern a small ball of yellow fluff peaking out from under one of Greta's wing. And below that, another ball of yellow fluff.

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Greta's eggs were hatching!

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It has been nearly a month since Greta began nesting.

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But, as has been the case with so many nesting Canada geese in Central Park, one could not be optimistic that any of the eggs would ultimately hatch due to the program of egg addling and destruction that has been in place for some years now at one of the world's most prestigious parks.

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This year alone, three other pairs of nesting Central Park geese have already lost all or some of their eggs, including one other goose couple (John and Mary) at the Reservoir whose entire clutch of six eggs suddenly and mysteriously vanished more than three weeks ago.

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At the time, it appeared Greta might have also lost her eggs as none were visible in the nest.

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But, I learned later that Greta was quite adept at hiding her eggs under a "blanket" composed of carefully woven leaves, moss and down feathers. I could not be sure if Greta had lost her eggs and laid new ones or had simply covered and hidden her eggs the day before. -- Particularly as disaster descended on the other nesting goose pair at the Reservoir. (Apparently, the latter was the case as the eggs are now hatching according to the original time frame.)

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But why are Greta's eggs hatching at all, considering the successes of the egg addling program and so many other disappointed geese? Why are they hatching in light of the somewhat heavy raccoon traffic rummaging through the nesting area at night?

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I believe it's because Greta was so well hidden even from the get-go. So much so, I had trouble finding her amongst the thick foliage and dense leaf coverage that camouflaged her. (Photos were nearly impossible to get.)

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But, another saving grace for Greta was the behavior of her gander, Hansel.

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Hansel was quite mindful not to be close to the nesting area during the daytime (when humans are around). Usually he was observed some distance away. While a gander swimming solo in the water is usually a reliable tip-off of a nesting mate nearby, Hansel's wanderings were so far, it made finding Greta all the more difficult -- especially with the fast growing foliage surrounding and hiding her.

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However, once the sun went down, Hansel returned to the nesting site each night to dutifully guard and protect his mate from roving raccoons.  While one can be sure raccoons were aware of the nesting goose (many only being a few feet away), only a very desperate, foolish or starving raccoon is going to take on two angry geese (a topic recently covered in greater detail in this blog.)  In short, raccoons are not stupid and seeking injury. Once stationed and positioned directly in front of Greta's nest each night, Hansel would not budge an inch in the water. He was literally prepared for battle on a second's notice.

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In essence, it is both surprising and not surprising that Hansel and Greta are once again, successful in hatching their eggs at the Reservoir, as they also did last year.

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But, what we have to hope now is that the eggs were not oiled or tampered with at some point during the incubation process as is suspected occurred last year.

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Sadly, all three of Hansel and Greta's goslings perished within a month last year as they failed to grow and develop normally. Such failure to thrive is suggestive of something gone wrong in the incubation process. Certainly, a lack of oxygen (such as occurs in egg addling) would negatively impact the developing embryos.

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The question remaining now is whether Greta was sufficiently "hidden" this year to avoid detection by those employed to oil and render ultimately unviable, goose eggs in Central Park?

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We won't know the answer to that for some time.

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For the moment however, to simply celebrate these new miracle hatchlings and pray to God that His work is not quite finished in protecting this new family.

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In fact, one might speculate, the real work for Hansel, Greta  --and God -- is only beginning.

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Stay tuned.  -- PCA

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