Site Accessibility Information Access Key 1 to Skip to Top Navigation Access Key 2 to Skip to the Three One One link Access Key 3 to Skip to City of Winnipeg Main Menu Access Key 4 to Skip to Left Navigation Menu Access Key 5 to Skip to Content area Access Key 6 to Skip to Right Sidebar content area Access Key 7 to Skip to Footer Links

Good Friday and Easter Monday – View holiday hours for City of Winnipeg facilities and services from March 29 to April 1.

Good Friday and Easter Monday – View holiday hours for City of Winnipeg facilities and services from March 29 to April 1.

Parks

Canada Goose biology and life stages

Spring Arrival: Canada geese arrive in the spring to Manitoba from more southern wintering grounds. Hours of daylight and weather affect the timing of migration. Geese have strong homing abilities and are able to return to the same site each year. In fact, female geese will often nest near the location where they hatched.

Nesting and Brooding: In urban areas, geese will nest at retention basins, in parks, near sidewalks, entrances of buildings, paths and roadways and even on raised structures, such as rooftops. They prefer to nest within 50 metres of water and geese are loyal to nest sites, with the female often setting up a nest along with her partner in the area where she hatched.

Geese will typically lay between 2 and 12 eggs, with an average of 5 eggs. Egg laying takes about 1 to 2 weeks to complete depending on the final number of eggs. Eggs are incubated for about 28 days and once the goslings hatch, they, along with the adults, will walk to their brood-rearing location near water.

Brood rearing: Families consisting of the adult pair and their goslings stay together as a unit. Groups of families called brood gangs will also form and consist of between 2 to 20 adults along with 20 to 100 goslings. Access to water may not be a requirement of geese during nesting, but once goslings are present the group will search out easy access to water. Retention basins are ideal brood rearing habitat.

Moulting and Feeding: Feeding groups typically consist of flightless goslings, breeding and non-breeding adults. Adults are also flightless for part of the summer months. Adult geese moult, completely replacing their flight feathers each year. It takes about 4 to 6 weeks to complete and it more or less coincides with the time that the goslings are flightless.

Geese congregate during the moult near areas that are close to and have easy access to water, have an abundance of food and have wide open views of potential predators. Gulls, domestic dogs, ravens, crows, skunks and foxes are predators of both eggs and goslings in urban environments. The security of water provides geese and their goslings an escape route when danger arises. They need to walk into water because they can't fly. Geese with young will defend them vigorously and are unlikely to abandon them when threatened.

Migration: Resident Canada geese will begin to get ready to migrate as the days get shorter. Geese that nest in the City of Winnipeg don't go really far as we think, in fact, many of "our" geese end up in Minnesota. The migrators that show up in the city in the fall come from further north and end up even migrating further south than our resident geese.


Last update: March 5, 2020
Error processing SSI file

Was this information helpful?

How can we make this web page better?

Information collected will be used to improve our website. Do not use this form to submit a request for service or information because it will not be forwarded to departments for response. To submit a request for service or information, contact 311.

This form is not intended to collect personal information; however, any personal information you choose to include in your comments is collected by the City of Winnipeg under the authority of section 36(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act for the purpose of improving our website and will not be used or disclosed for any other purposes, except as authorized by law. Contact the Corporate Access and Privacy Officer by mail (City Clerk’s Department, Susan A. Thompson Building, 510 Main Street, Winnipeg MB, R3B 1B9) or by telephone (311) if you have any questions about the collection of this information.

Ces renseignements sont-ils utiles?

Comment pourrait-on améliorer cette page Web?

Les renseignements recueillis serviront à l’amélioration de notre site Web. Prière de ne pas se servir de ce formulaire pour soumettre une demande de service ou de renseignements, car la demande ne sera pas transmise au service en question. Pour soumettre une demande de service ou de renseignements, veuillez communiquer avec le 311.

Le présent formulaire ne vise pas à recueillir des renseignements personnels. Cependant, les renseignements personnels que vous choisissez d’inclure dans vos commentaires sont recueillis par la Ville de Winnipeg en conformité avec l’alinéa 36(1)b) de la Loi sur l’accès à l’information et la protection de la vie privée dans le but d’améliorer son site Web et ne seront ni utilisés ni divulgués pour d’autres raisons, sauf dans les cas où cela est autorisé par la loi. Communiquez avec l’agent de l’accès à l’information et de la protection de la vie privée de la Ville par courrier au Bureau du greffier, immeuble Susan-A.-Thompson, 510, rue Main, Winnipeg (Manitoba) R3B 1B9, ou par téléphone au 311 si vous avez des questions sur la collecte de ces renseignements.