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BRAINERD — I love to listen to the banter of Canada geese that four times per year declare their presence as they pass overhead.
What? Geese don’t migrate four times per year?
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Yes, they do, and one of those voyages is happening now.
During the past two weeks or so you may have witnessed migrating flocks of Canada geese and wondered what was happening. Is the early onset of warm weather this spring the cause of this late movement of geese?
Most of us with an eye and ear toward the outdoors are aware of the brunt of Canada geese stream northward in March and April, basically pushing the snow line as they go. Those same geese, along with their newly fledged young, return on the wings of a north wind during October and November. Most of those birds are a goose subspecies called Interior Canada geese and the portion of that flock that travels across Minnesota is called the Eastern Prairie Population (EPP.)
The geese flying north now are of the “giant subspecies.” They were once thought to be extinct but pockets of the giants were “rediscovered” years ago and they now flourish. These are the largest of the Canada geese subspecies averaging 11 to 12 pounds with some birds reaching more than 14 pounds. For comparison the Interior subspecies (EPPs) average 9 to 10 pounds.
This current northward journey of giant Canada geese is called the “molt migration” because the geese are traveling to destinations north to molt their feathers. During molt the geese are flightless. The flocks passing now consist primarily of yearlings and non-breeding adults (giants usually don’t breed until they are 3 years old). These birds form flocks in early May prior to departure. Flock size increases as pairs that failed to raise young leave their breeding wetlands. What signals the flocks to push northward is known only by the geese. It seems, though, they are constantly babbling about a departure date.
Generally, the molt migration usually starts around Memorial Day. It can vary a bit year to year due to the timing of local breeding and the addition of failed breeders to the flocks of non-breeders. Local weather events can also be factors.
One has to wonder why don’t the giants just keep on migrating with the Interior geese during March and April?
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Scientists believe it may be that 2-year-old non-breeding birds, birds that are often paired with a mate, are checking out potential breeding sites for the following nesting season.
Where do the May and June molt migrating giant Canada geese go?
Most of the Minnesota birds end up on the west shore of Hudson’s Bay.
Once the molt is finished and the giant Canada geese can once again fly, they begin their return to Minnesota. The trip back starts about Labor Day and continues into mid and late September, a good month prior to the southward migration of the Interior (EPP) subspecies. What early season ruffed grouse hunter has not heard the clamor of southbound geese and glanced skyward between the aspen trunks?
So, that’s four periods of migration during which we can enjoy goose gossip as we scan the sky for noisy travelers lined up in V-formations — twice as the giant subspecies travel north and south, and twice as the smaller Interior geese do the same.
I like that.
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BILL MARCHEL is a wildlife and outdoors photographer and writer whose work appears in many regional and national publications as well as the Brainerd Dispatch. He may be reached at bill@billmarchel.com. You also can visit his website at BillMARCHEL.com.
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