No, we don't have purple martin eggs yet, but we do have other eggs being laid here already! The weather is so weird, it's easy to forget that it's only April 20th. On the other hand, it's ONLY April 20th! Bob had been spotting a pair of Canadian Geese on our pond for over a week now. I'm not particularly fond of Canadian Geese - there's nothing special about them - they're everywhere and they are so messy! In my most self-assured voice, I told him surely, they'll be moving on. Tonight, as we drove around the property and then the pond on our 4-wheelers, a female goose took off honking wildly.
As I scanned the bank, I saw why she was acting so alarmed and suddenly, in a blink, my indifference to geese turned into endearment.
She has 5 eggs softly nestled in a downy feather cup she has created on the bank of the pond and I'm pretty sure she didn't count on having such a nosy neighbor. I studied the site and oriented myself so I could figure out from where I could observe her in the future while standing at a safe distance on our porch. I noticed one egg in the water and I felt a bit bad. I don't know if she accidentally kicked the egg out when I drove up, or if it had been discarded before I even got there.
I made a decision not to try to rescue the egg as I had no idea how geese will react when you fuss around their nests and I figured the cold water had already ruined it.
Ma and Pa stayed in the next field over, watching me from a distance.
After what seemed like hours, (it was really only about 20-25 minutes), they both returned to the pond and she made her way up the bank, re-positioned herself on the nest and settled in for the night, while dad quietly paddled around to make sure the area was once again safe for his little family.
On my way back to the house, I stopped to check on our Killdeer nest - 3 eggs have now become 4. There are 2 things that always amaze me about Killdeer - one is HOW do they get away with not being caught at night by snakes and owls? The second is, HOW does she manage to keep those eggs so warm at night with such cold weather here right now? It has been getting as low as mid-20's lately.
I did some quick research and found that goose eggs can take as long as 28-35 days to incubate. Of course I don't know how long those eggs have been there, so I'll have to keep a daily watch on them, if I want to see the kids hatch. Regardless of my lack of interest in geese, I am now excited about having baby goslings swimming around my pond. Ma and Pa had better get used to me hanging around - it's the price every living thing must pay while living here at Gobbler's Knob.
