I've been involved with Mr. and Mrs. Goose for about 2 years now and they have never had a chick, as far as I've seen. I think they settle in at night on the small island in the middle of the lake so I've never been able to see if Mrs. G has ever laid an egg, even if it didn't hatch. When I first spotted Mr. G, he was alone all the time. He was so big and regal, I stopped dead in my tracks at the sight and ever after, sought him out in my walks. I always found him standing around, the only one of his kind, usually in one of two grassy areas on the park shore.
One day --the first day I brought bread and Husband realized the goose would eat from his hand -- he swam out to greet us with a lovely gander. I didn't know if this was a new mate and he was no longer a bachelor or if she'd been around all this time and I'd only caught him on his solo forays. 24 months and many interactions later, I've only seen them apart once, so I got to thinking that maybe she had been sitting on a nest back then. If that was so, I never saw any babies. You figure eventually they would get big enough to come out and swim, learn to eat and fly before they might head to parts unknown. But there are few baby ducks who survive of the MANY that are born year round. I'm still trying to figure out who the predators are. Maybe these big geese's babes are no less immune to whatever fate befalls the rest.
Looks like they're called Chinese Geese, due to many distinctions, the most prominent being the unusual knob they sport on their beaks. (pls. excuse the piece of bread sticking out of his)
Still working on the orange billed bird.
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