Trego's Mountain Ear

There’s a solitary yearling hanging around the house – and given the season, I figure she hasn’t lost her mother to predator or automobile encounters.  I figure this forlorn, solitary little deer is my first sign that fawns will be on the ground soon.  In the next couple of weeks, the majority of the 2023 fawns will be here – for my viewing enjoyment.

The book tells me that fawns average 6 to 8 pounds at birth, can walk within a couple of hours of birth, and spend most of their early lives bedded down.  It creates a challenge for me with the haying season – I’ve only hit one fawn with a mower, and hopefully it never happens again.

The little things almost self-domesticate.  At the same time, I’m watching what happens with the goslings when one parent goose is taken by a predator.  I’m learning that what I was taught about Canadian geese wasn’t the whole story – and I’m revising my understanding of the goose ethos.

About eight years ago, I watched goose and gander set up their nest on the island – and I believed they were both young geese.  I’m not so certain anymore – the old goose flew south looking decrepit a couple of years ago, and gander returned with a new mate.  He had to work to convince his younger mate that the island was the right spot for their nest.  Now, I wonder if his original mate wasn’t older than he.

On their third nesting season, the previous year’s goslings also returned to the pond.  It was too many geese – but it was impressive to watch the older siblings set up a combat air patrol to protect the goslings from the bald eagle.  When the original goose was replaced by sweet young thing, fewer of the last year’s hatch accompanied them onto the pond – this year the nesting pairs on the pond were gander and sweet young thing, plus two of his older offspring and their mates.

I didn’t see what took the one younger gander out.  Predation occurs quickly, and the tall grass conceals the story.  I did see an adult goose, alone, moving her hatchlings close to gander’s, and then becoming a group of three adults, with gander’s goslings and grand-goslings swimming between three adults.  A couple years back we watched the effort gander and goose put in as they tried to get the gosling with angel wing capable of flying out in the fall.

The turkeys have the problem of raven success – successful raven reproduction translates to increased predation on turkey nests – eggs and hatchlings.  Instead of single mother turkeys with large flocks, we’re watching three or four mothers mob up to protect the two or three hatchlings that each has left after the raven predation.