Mysteries of the Night Geese -- Adaptation!

Migratory geese vigorously working remnants of winter grass just after sunset last night at North Meadow in Central Park. "Fueling up" before challenge of marathon migration. (Any day now?)

Exhausted migratory geese resting back at the Reservoir this morning. It was a long night for them -- but not in ways originally thought.

But, some were splashing around and getting ready..

Counting the days now....

And looking fat, sassy and finally fit.

A couple of days ago, I referred to the roughly 200 migratory geese I see every morning at the Reservoir as appearing "exhausted and spent." After all, they are barely moving and look like frozen statues on the ice. -- Too tired most mornings to even lift their heads.

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It is true that the geese are exhausted and spent.  But, it's not from just having flown many hundreds of miles from some southern location and briefly stopping in Central Park for needed rest. (This while en route to breeding sites far north in Canada or the sub Arctic.)

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The geese are tired from having spent the better part of the night foraging and digging for what remains of winter grass at the North Meadow -- just a hop, skip and tree flyover from the Reservoir.

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I saw them last night -- all 200 or so of them. They were vigorously and tirelessly pecking through the dirt and mud on the ground to whatever grass or seedlings could be found. Apparently the pickings are reasonably good at the North Meadow as the geese are quickly starting to replenish and regain whatever fat reserves and muscle tissue were lost over the unduly harsh winter.

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The geese have to do this of course -- and it's not the first time I have seen migratory geese grazing through the night on the ball fields and lawns of the North Meadow.

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Typically, the migratory geese who winter at the Reservoir take to evening routs at the North Meadow a couple of weeks before they migrate out of Central Park. They have to build up nutritional reserves to get them through a migration marathon that can entail 1,000 miles or more.

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But, the NYC wintering geese left Central Park some weeks back (they are usually the last migratory geese to arrive in NYC in December or January and the first to leave even before spring officially arrives on the calendar).

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They were then replaced by these roughly 200 geese migrating in from some southern location several weeks ago.

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I kept thinking the geese I was seeing every morning were different geese moving in and out as the migratory season hit its peaks. And yet, I wasn't seeing them arrive or leave in the large flocks that are typical of geese in migration. Nor, was I seeing any geese leave the Reservoir in the early mornings as is typical when they migrate through NYC during fall migrations.

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But, apparently what is different about the fall and spring migrations is that during the former, the geese are well fed from grazing on grass all summer and don't need to make prolonged stops anywhere to replenish nutritional reserves. In spring however (especially following this brutal winter) their fat reserves are used up and they don't have the muscle mass and energy to sustain them through a long and arduous migration without necessary and prolonged stops to refuel.

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But, why the "refueling" at night, one might wonder?  Don't geese normally graze in daytime and roost (rest) at night?

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Normally, that is true.

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But, Central Park is not like some Iowa corn or wheat field.

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I suspect there is too much human (and dog) activity in Central Park during the mornings and afternoons for migratory geese to feel comfortable grazing on lawns -- most notably, Geese Police which patrols Central Park lawns, lakes and ponds during the day hours.

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But, Geese Police doesn't patrol or have access to the Reservoir at all.

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And so, the geese have apparently figured out that it is less stressful and more productive to do their lawn grazing and refueling at night (when all is peaceful and serene) and "sleep" during the daytime hours at the Reservoir where there is virtually no human activity, dogs or harassment.

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This is actually quite astonishing considering these are migratory geese who are only in Central Park a few weeks out of the year.  And yet they know the score and how to adapt around it.  They have apparently been doing this for some years now.

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This morning I noted a few of the geese actually swimming and frolicking in the half open water at the Reservoir. Looking closely at them, they no longer appeared the scraggly, thin and desperate birds of a few weeks ago.  Rather, they appeared plump, sassy and fit.

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(Even the goose seen a few mornings ago covered in mud and water is easily explained now in light of the new information. It had rained heavily the night before and the young goose had apparently spent the evening trudging through mud and water at the North Meadow. Flying back to the icy Reservoir before or around dawn, he had not time to sufficiently preen.)

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While I have always maintained that the only thing truly "predictable" about Canada geese is that they are unpredictable, I am going way out on a limb now and "predict" that by the way the migratory geese look now, all of them will be gone from Central Park by next week -- and well on their way to the far reaches of Canada or the sub-arctic.

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Though getting a bit of a late jump on the territorial and mating rituals of the season, there is hopefully still time for the geese to make up for it. The main thing was to get themselves in shape for the bulk and difficult challenges of the journey.

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As for the "territorial and mating rituals of the season" we are starting to see those now in the resident ducks and geese of Central Park.

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But, more about that tomorrow.  :)   -- PCA

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