scholarly journals A white feathered area on the forehead is more common in hybrids of Greylag Goose Anser anser and Greater Canada Goose Branta canadensis than in the parent species

Ornis Svecica ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-44
Author(s):  
C G Gustavsson
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Comparison ◽  
Branta Canadensis ◽  
Canada Goose ◽  
Canada Geese ◽  
Parent Species ◽  
Anser Anser ◽  
White Area ◽  
Greylag Goose ◽  
Greylag Geese

This study evaluated prevalence and extent of white areas on heads of Greylag Goose × Greater Canada Goose hybrids. A white area which bordered the bill and then to various degrees extended over the forehead was found in 17 out of 20 hybrids. This was significantly more common in the hybrids than in the parent species. The white areas in the hybrids were also significantly larger than in those 82 out of 191 adult Greylag Geese which had some amount of white area. There were too few Greater Canada Geese with a white area outside the normal pale cheek patch to make a meaningful similar quantitative comparison also with them. No white area was seen in the three presumed 1st Calendar Year (CY) hybrids but when two of them were seen again in September of the 2nd CY there were some pale feathers that were interpreted as the beginning of white areas. The white areas in hybrids are therefore regarded to be adult features which like in several pure Anser species begin to develop during the 2nd CY.

Intra- and Interspecific Territorialism in Mixed Colonies of the Canada Goose Branta canadensis and the Greylag Goose Anser anser

1974 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Fabricius ◽  
Anders Bylin ◽  
Anders Ferno ◽  
Tommy Radesater
Keyword(s):  
Branta Canadensis ◽  
Canada Goose ◽  
Anser Anser ◽  
Greylag Goose

A study of Canada geese, Branta canadensis, nesting on islands in southeastern Alberta

1970 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kees Vermeer
Keyword(s):  
Egg Laying ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Branta Canadensis ◽  
Canada Goose ◽  
Canada Geese ◽  
Uniform Spacing ◽  
Incubation Periods

Canada goose clutches situated on islands in Dowling Lake and Lake Newell, Alberta, were checked from laying to hatching. Egg-laying intervals averaged 1.87 days and incubation periods 26.8 days. The distribution of nests showed a significant deviation from randomness in the direction of uniform spacing. Causes of extensive hatching failure at Dowling Lake were predation and desertion. Predation by coyotes was facilitated by low water levels. A preference for nesting on islands appears to be a mechanism to counteract mammalian predation.

scholarly journals Adoption as a gosling strategy to obtain better parental care? Experimental evidence for gosling choice and age-dependency of adoption in greylag geese

Behaviour ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 142 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 1515-1533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Komdeur ◽  
Ellen Kalmbach ◽  
Pascal van der Aa
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Individual Recognition ◽  
Alloparental Care ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Generational Conflict ◽  
Anser Anser ◽  
State Dependent ◽  
Greylag Goose ◽  
Large Brood ◽  
Greylag Geese

AbstractAdoptions of unrelated young by successful breeders are a form of alloparental care which has been observed in many species of geese. Depending on costs and benefits to the parents, adoptions might represent an inter-generational conflict or a mutually beneficial strategy. Although most studies of wild populations suggest benefits of large brood sizes, incidental observations mostly report aggressive behaviour of parents towards lone goslings. No studies have investigated mechanisms and behaviour during adoptions in order to test whether adoptions are driven by parents or goslings. To test whether goslings might use adoption as a strategy to obtain better parental care, we carried out an experiment where lone greylag goose (Anser anser) goslings could choose between a dominant and a subordinate foster family. In a second experiment we also tested whether adoption was age-dependent. Except for one case, all lone goslings (N = 16) chose the dominant family. Parents showed very little aggression towards lone goslings at three days after hatch, but aggression increased until 9 days and remained high thereafter. At the same time as aggression increased, the chance of successful adoption decreased. In the first five weeks of life, goslings which had been adopted were no further away from parents than original goslings during grazing. These results show that goslings might choose foster families according to dominance. The fact that with increasing gosling age parents are less willing to adopt could be due to improved individual recognition and reflect decreasing benefits of gaining an additional family member. More detailed studies on state-dependent costs and benefits of adoptions are required to determine whether adoptions in geese represent conflict or mutualism, and why this changes with gosling age.

scholarly journals Site selection by geese in a suburban landscape

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quentin J Groom ◽  
Tim Adriaens ◽  
Pauline Delhez ◽  
Iris Van Der Beeten
Keyword(s):  
Canada Geese ◽  
Anser Anser ◽  
Large Herbivores ◽  
Landscape Modification ◽  
Northern European ◽  
Effective Deterrent ◽  
Barnacle Geese ◽  
Greylag Geese ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
American Cities

Background In northern European and North American cities geese are one of the commonest and most visible large herbivores that inhabit the suburban environment . As such, their presence and behavior often conflicts with the desires of the human residents. Fouling, noise, aggression and health concerns are all cited as reasons that there are “too many”. Lethal control is often used for control, however, this raises questions about whether this is a sustainable strategy to resolve the conflict between humans and geese, when paradoxically, it is humans that are responsible for creating the habitat and often providing the food and protection of geese at other times. We hypothesis that the landscaping of suburban parks can be improved to decrease its attractiveness to geese and to reduce the opportunity for conflict between geese and humans. Methods. Using observations collected over five years from a botanic garden situated in suburban Belgium and data from the whole of Flanders in Belgium we examine landscape features that attract geese, including the presence of islands in lakes, the distance from water, barriers to level flight and the size of grazing areas. The birds studied were the tadornine goose Alopochen aegyptiaca (L. 1766) (Egyptian geese) and the anserine geese, Branta canadensis (L. 1758) (Canada geese), Anser anser (L. 1758) (greylag geese) and Branta leucopsis (Bechstein, 1803) (barnacle geese). Landscape modification is a known method for modifying geese behavior, but there is little information on the power of such methods with which to inform managers and planners. Results. Our results demonstrate that lakes with islands attract more than twice as many anserine geese, than lakes without island, but make little difference to Egyptian geese. Furthermore, flight barriers between grazing areas and lakes are an effective deterrent to geese using an area for feeding. Keeping grazing areas small and surrounded by trees reduces their attractiveness to geese. Conclusion. The results suggest that landscape design can be used successfully to reduce the number of geese and their conflict with humans. However, this approach has its limitations and would require humans to compromise on what they expect from their landscaped parks, such as open vistas, lakes and closely cropped lawns.

Influence of socially involved hand-raising on life history and stress responses in greylag geese

2010 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 380-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josef Hemetsberger ◽  
Isabella B.R. Scheiber ◽  
Brigitte M. Weiß ◽  
Didone Frigerio ◽  
Kurt Kotrschal
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Stress Responses ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Anser Anser ◽  
Egg Weight ◽  
Greylag Goose ◽  
Greylag Geese ◽  
Predator Stress ◽  
Weight Number

Animals are hand-raised in a variety of contexts, including experimental research. This has been criticized frequently as producing animals with species-untypical behaviour. Here we compare life histories of 330 hand-raised and 631 gooseraised Greylag geese from a free-flying flock to determine whether hand-raising affected life history, reproductive variables and behaviour. We found little differences in life histories (e.g. male age, age at pair bond) or reproductive variables (e.g. number of eggs, egg weight, number of young hatched and fledged) of hand-raised and goose-raised geese. However, hand-raised females had lower life expectancies than goose-raised ones, mainly due to predation during breeding. Hand-raised geese were stressed significantly less during social, handling and predator stress, were attacked less by conspecifics and were less vigilant than goose-raised geese. We conclude that hand-raising resulted in geese with species-typical life histories but reduced stress responses. This makes hand-raised geese cooperative partners for research, but also more vulnerable when exposed to predators. Keywords: hand-raising; greylag goose; Anser anser; life-history; reproductive success; stress

scholarly journals Site selection by geese in a suburban landscape

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quentin J Groom ◽  
Tim Adriaens ◽  
Claire Colsoulle ◽  
Pauline Delhez ◽  
Iris Van Der Beeten
Keyword(s):  
Canada Geese ◽  
Anser Anser ◽  
Large Herbivores ◽  
Landscape Modification ◽  
Northern European ◽  
Effective Deterrent ◽  
Barnacle Geese ◽  
Greylag Geese ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
American Cities

Background In northern European and North American cities geese are one of the commonest and most visible large herbivores that inhabit the suburban environment . As such, their presence and behavior often conflicts with the desires of the human residents. Fouling, noise, aggression and health concerns are all cited as reasons that there are “too many”. Lethal control is often used for control, however, this raises questions about whether this is a sustainable strategy to resolve the conflict between humans and geese, when paradoxically, it is humans that are responsible for creating the habitat and often providing the food and protection of geese at other times. We hypothesis that the landscaping of suburban parks can be improved to decrease its attractiveness to geese and to reduce the opportunity for conflict between geese and humans. Methods. Using observations collected over five years from a botanic garden situated in suburban Belgium and data from the whole of Flanders in Belgium we examine landscape features that attract geese, including the presence of islands in lakes, the distance from water, barriers to level flight and the size of grazing areas. The birds studied were the tadornine goose Alopochen aegyptiaca (L. 1766) (Egyptian geese) and the anserine geese, Branta canadensis (L. 1758) (Canada geese), Anser anser (L. 1758) (greylag geese) and Branta leucopsis (Bechstein, 1803) (barnacle geese). Landscape modification is a known method for modifying geese behavior, but there is little information on the power of such methods with which to inform managers and planners. Results. Our results demonstrate that lakes with islands attract more than twice as many anserine geese, than lakes without island, but make little difference to Egyptian geese. Furthermore, flight barriers between grazing areas and lakes are an effective deterrent to geese using an area for feeding. Keeping grazing areas small and surrounded by trees reduces their attractiveness to geese. Conclusion. The results suggest that landscape design can be used successfully to reduce the number of geese and their conflict with humans. However, this approach has its limitations and would require humans to compromise on what they expect from their landscaped parks, such as open vistas, lakes and closely cropped lawns.

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