National Geographic’s geese breed; goslings escorted to nearby pond

May 13, 2019 • 4:30 pm

Continuing on with less desirable but still nice waterfowl, we have this video, sent by reader Michael, of a family of Canada geese (Branta canadensis) who nest on a window ledge at the National Geographic building in Washington, D.C. As with the geese on my campus that nest on the roof of the Chemistry Building, they have to be escorted to water. (Here our young ones are caged on the roof immediately after hatching and carried to the pond by Fish & Wildlife, with the parents following along). Our geese left Botany pond (a mercy for the ducks), and I don’t know where they went, but these ones found a home in a nearby lake.

9 thoughts on “National Geographic’s geese breed; goslings escorted to nearby pond”

  2. They had to pass through security. I wonder if they got felt up? At least they didn’t have to take their shoes off.

  3. Not sure whether airline pilots would have the same warm fuzzy feeling.

    (I just finished reading ‘Fly by Wire’, about the A320 that ended up in the Hudson. It wasn’t a ‘miracle’ exactly, but it certainly was an extremely lucky combination of error-free piloting skills, a very stable plane, and the most favourable circumstances – daylight(!), clear weather, a huge expanse of calm water, and a lot of help close at hand. Without any of those things, a few geese would not have been the only casualties.)

    Sorry to inject a discordant note, but it’s a problem that will not go away. I’m not sure whether the larger LEAP engines on the A320 Neo and the 737 MAX (whenifever Boing tames MCAS) will be more likely to swallow geeses or more resistant to being wrecked by same.

    cr

    1. Yes that did surprise me. That there wasn’t carnage.

      Lucky it wasn’t swans. Geese are assholes. Swans are utter psychopaths.

      cr

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