What is This About Geese Mating for Life?

On March 2, 1998, Pat and Robin rescued a badly injured female goose (she was smaller than her mate who was defending her during the capture) at one of the ponds at Fair Oaks Shopping Center. They took her to Springfield Emergency Hospital - it was a Sunday afternoon, and that was the best option for treatment. I called there later that day, but they didn't get to her until late that night. Early Monday morning, I talked with the vet who had treated her, and learned that she had bite wounds on her abdomen, abrasions on her wing, and one of her legs was very sore. The vet stitched her up with dissolving stitches and gave her antibiotics.

I picked up this goose as soon as I could get over there, and brought her home for recuperation. At the end of two weeks she seemed to have improved enough to return her to her mate. I met Pat and Robin at the pond on a Sunday morning, and we put the bird out on the grass. She went down into the water, but no mate appeared. After a few minutes one of the pairs of geese on the pond attacked our friend and drove her out of the water. I could easily pick her up, and we decided that she probably needed more time in care. Of course, we were wondering where the mate might be.

According to all of our information, geese mate for life and take a long time to re-mate if one disappears. Guess what? I found one book that says that a goose will re-mate readily, if it is breeding season. Now what? I kept this goose for one more week, and we decided to try again on March 21. This time I checked out the original pond, and there were only five pairs of geese on it, each pair staking out a territory on the pond. So we put her in the larger pond where there are numerous geese in groups, along with some of the mated pairs. Pat Nelson monitors these two ponds and knows that the geese do go back and forth between the two places. Again, there was no mate making an appearance, but no one came and beat her up. Pat checked on her twice the next day, and she seemed to be holding her own. She can be easily recognized, because she still has a limp.

The conclusion we settled upon is that, given the time of year, Mr. Faithful Mate gave up in a hurry, and found someone else. Maybe our girl will do the same.