Goose nest on our roof: Eggs hatch today, see live video here
By Gary Bogue
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010 at 6:19 am in Canada Goose, Mother Goose.
Mother Goose tends to her baby and the other eggs last year on March 23, 2009, in her CCTimes rooftop nest in Walnut Creek, Calif. (Susan Tripp Pollard/Staff)
Our Mother Goose — the Canada goose that build her nest and laid her 7 eggs on the Contra Costa Times’ rooftop — is having a really good day today. Her eggs are hatching!
Here’s a link where you can watch our Webcam shooting live video of Mother Goose and her chicks on the nest http://www.ustream.tv/channel/cct’s-mother-goose
Here’s what’s going to happen today:
Photo of Mother Goose sitting on her Contra Costa Times’ rooftop nest last year in March of 2009.
We expect her 7 ducklings to jump off the roof sometime today, at the urging of their Mother Goose (she flies down to the ground and calls them). They jump … their tiny 2-oz. bodies are covered by a thick coating of protective fluffy down that will protect them and absorb their fall. But just in case, some of us from the Times’ newsroom will be stationed below, each holding a corner of a large blanket, to try and catch the ducklings as they fall. It will be a bit of a scramble, like the “Keystone Cops,” but we’ll do our best. Even without our help, Mother Goose has raised about 30 goslings over the last 5 years, and all have survived the jump.
Then they will follow Mama to a nearby pond, where she and the male goose will start the long job of raising and teaching their chicks how to survive in the world. We watch this every year and it still continues to amaze us.
Isn’t this fun? Enjoy … /Gary
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March 31st, 2010 at 10:16 am
Watching Mother Goose this week has been an amazing treat! My husband, who has Alzheimer’s and can’t enjoy many things these days, has been watching and smiling and really happy!
March 31st, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Take your posts! Soft binkies at the ready!
April 1st, 2011 at 10:41 pm
question: There is an eagle nest by Hwy 20/26 in Boise Idaho. A goose is nesting there. The nest is on top of a very high pole (like electric pole)can the chick survive the fall? can they fly? The will probably die it’s very sad.
April 4th, 2011 at 6:22 am
Josie: That sounds like a pretty long fall, but those goslings are pretty good at surviving, kind of like fuzzy yellow tennis balls. Cross your fingers … /Gary