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It's been a few weeks since Hansel, Greta and their three goslings departed the Central Park Reservoir and a few weeks since updating this blog.
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As usual this time of year, there is a kind of "lull" of geese in Central Park, though the comparatively low number of mallards is still hard to explain. The dozens of geese who molted at the Reservoir during the early summer are long gone and as soon as the three goslings of the Reservoir were capable of flying in late August, they too, took off with their parents. I don't anticipate a return of Hansel and Greta (hopefully with their three youngsters) until next spring.
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Nevertheless, the past few weeks have been a bit surprising in that Central Park has not been entirely goose-empty.
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There are the six resident Central Park geese who still remain at the Boat Lake that my friend, Liliana regularly reports on. And there have also been gaggles of geese flying in and out of the Reservoir, usually to rest at night on the causeway that runs north to south in the middle of the watercourse.
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It seems way too early for migratory geese to begin passing through NYC and specifically, the Reservoir during their journeys south, so this observation is a little puzzling. (Usually the migratory geese passing through aren't first observed until early October.)
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Last week, for example, while walking around the Reservoir after the sun had set, I suddenly heard loud, excited honking coming from the north.
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A large skein of at least 25 to 30 geese flew low over the trees and as soon as reaching the water, literally dropped out of the sky and plopped on the water -- like rocks falling. There, the geese remained for some time, barely moving from the spots they had landed -- as if exhausted from a long and challenging flight.
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Such behavior is typical of migratory geese, not resident NYC geese simply, "pond hopping" around the city. Usually the latter are fairly quiet when arriving to a location and move around freely when landing and skiing across the water.
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I didn't know what to make of the particular observation as the geese were obviously not Central Park resident geese (we don't have that number of geese anywhere in CP) and it didn't appear they were local by the behavior.
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(Weather has been unusually hot in NYC over the past few weeks and was on that particular day. It's possible that even a short, local flight exhausted the geese causing them to behave more like migratory birds -- though that doesn't explain the loud, excited honking when this particular skein arrived.)
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A few night later, there were nearly 40 geese observed resting on the causeway, but last night far fewer.
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The only conclusion to be drawn from these unusual sightings this time of year is that, for whatever reason, geese are moving around a lot. But, it's not known if I am seeing the same geese each night or different geese coming and going.
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Nor is it known if these are local NYC geese or geese moving through from some far away, exotic location -- i.e. migratory geese.
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Yesterday, Liliana reported 21 geese suddenly at the Boat lake -- something not observed at all since the very early spring, and then only briefly. She further reported hearing the cooing of goslings, though they were not the goslings who hatched at the Reservoir this summer whose white face markings are actually beige.
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So, the question remains: Are some geese migrating exceptionally early this year? Looking back on this blog from last year, the first observation of migratory geese passing through the Reservoir was not made until October 10th.
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One thing that is known however, is that if these are in fact, the first waves of migratory geese, they are here and gone in the blink of an eye.
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It isn't until late December or even early January that the last wave of migratory geese who actually "winter" at the Reservoir arrive -- and stay. -- PCA
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