Mike Digout was never a fan of Canadian geese; however, his likings changed after he saw a remarkable mother goose caring for a quite big family.
When the work-from-home period began because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Digout began walking along the riverbank of Saskatchewan near his home in Saskatoon and brought his camera with him to take photos of the wildlife there.
This is when he spotted the goose.
He recalls how he walked out every night on the riverbank searching for beavers and spotted a lot of geese from the south, searching for an area to nest.
His Likings for Geese Grew after Spotting this Awesome Goose Mother
In May, he noticed that the first goslings have hatched and thought they look so cute they are when they’re tiny.
For him, they look like small tennis balls with legs.
He began taking photos of the goslings while waiting for beavers to appear. One night, while sitting on the bench near the riverbank, he saw a mother goose with an unusually big group of goslings.
The babies started to crawl under the mother’s feathers to sleep and he counted 16 fluffy ones under her wings already.
He was amazed by the 16 babies she had and he started visiting the place every night looking for this family.
Interestingly, every day, it seemed like the group was growing in number. First, he spotted 25 and then 30 goslings.
One day, he actually counted 47!
He realized that the mother was caring for goslings of different geese families. This is a phenomenon known as gang brood which is common in urban and suburban areas where there are a lot of nests.
What Are Gang Broods & When Do They Happen?
Gang broods are formed when parents babysit babies of other geese so that their parents can have a night off.
For Digout, it was clear that this mama was made for the job-she was so calm and yet with so many goslings around. She seemed like the most patient mother, says Digout.
The babies grew up fast and are no longer able to fit under the wings of the mama geese.
They now sleep in a big pile and their mother watches them over.
The gang brood soon split into 3 big families-however, this super mom, as Digout explains, and her mate, are still taking care for 25 goslings.
Amazing, isn’t it?
They will be there for them all the way until they’re able to fly south again.
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