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These geese were featured on Oregon Public Broadcasting's "Oregon Field Guide."
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The story was also aired on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered."
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Every spring, geese flock to Blue Lake Regional Park to nest and raise their young. This April, one mated pair brought an element of surprise to the familiar event: The female was a Canada goose, the most common type of goose seen at the park, while the male was a western white-fronted goose — a completely different species.
“I took a look at them and thought, ‘I should ask Katy about this,’” said park ranger William McDonald.
“Katy” was Katy Weil, Metro Parks and Nature senior natural resource scientist. She confirmed the geese’s respective species and the unusualness of their pairing.
“It’s not unheard of for these two species to hybridize, but it’s uncommon,” she said. “It happens more often in other parts of North America. This is the first documented case I’ve heard of in this region.”
Quickly, park staff went into action to protect the unlikely couple, who had chosen a very public nesting spot between a picnic table and the park’s popular swim beach. McDonald and his teammates blocked off the area around the nest and posted signs asking visitors not to disturb the nesting pair.
For weeks, the male goose defended the nest, pacing back and forth and occasionally issuing high-pitched squeaks at birds, animals or people he perceived as threats. Meanwhile, the female stayed on the nest to keep the eggs warm.
Sadly, the story doesn’t end in adorable fluffballs. In late April, McDonald let Weil know that the geese had left their nest. Weil and a colleague investigated and found that at least four of the nest’s eggs weren’t fertile. She found remnants of empty eggshells, but since no goslings accompanied the couple, it seems likely that any hatchlings were victim to predation, illness or other fatal circumstances.
Weil said this didn’t necessarily have anything to do with the geese being of different species, noting that it’s common for all geese to lay some infertile eggs and that these two species have successfully produced healthy offspring in other instances. Other factors may have played a role, like the stress caused by nesting in such a heavily trafficked part of the park.
“It probably seemed like a nice, quiet spot when they first chose it,” Weil noted. “They couldn’t know that it would be full of people as soon as the weather warmed up.”
Weil also pointed out that mated geese frequently make yearslong — even lifelong — bonds and return to the same nesting grounds year after year. Since leaving their nest, the pair has been spotted resting and foraging around the park — always together. So it’s possible that the unsual pair could nest again at Blue Lake next year. “Hopefully, not right next to a picnic table,” Weil noted wryly.