Heart of the Country
May, 2025
by Don Bauer, Class of 2023
The Heart of the Country…and the Canada Geese that Live Here
I've been living in the Heart of the country for six years now. I've been connected here for twenty years because of my wife, Anita, whose family has been here for generations. We spend a lot of time just watching nature that thrives all around us. Our favorite critter that lives here is the Canada Goose. This is a story of geese, and us learning about them.
Canada Geese have been here for generations, but I've only been here a short time. I love seeing them, and for most of the years here we've watched them raise babies. The most successful are a pair we call Harry and Sally. The most emotional pair we call Jack and Dianne.
I’ve watched Jack and Diane for the last five years. They nest here successfully sometimes, and sometimes not. In my favorite photo I've taken of them, Dianne was in the nest pot with two babies looking at me. That year, 2022, I didn't watch them like I do now. That was the year we met another pair, Harry and Sally, and we lost Jack.
Dianne in the pot nest with chicks, 2022
When Dianne hopped into that pot to nest in early April 2022, we had the unexpected pleasure of having two more geese come out of the woods with a new brood! They were a month ahead of Jack and Dianne. We named the newbies Harry and Sally. They spent the month Dianne was on the nest raising their babies into lanky teens. When Jack and Dianne's brood finally hatched, Harry and Sally’s brood were already tall. Here is a photo of the two broods on the lake together, five for Jack and Dianne and four with Harry and Sally.
Jack & Dianne and brood with Harry & Sally and theirs, 2022
Jack and Dianne didn't stay long. I guess the 12-acre lake in the Heart of the Country isn't big enough for two broods. I saw them walk into the woods one evening, and they didn't come back. Our property is close to our friend Karin's property. I believe there are some dairy farm acres between, but it's a clear walk from one to the other. Karin called us a couple of days after Jack and Dianne left to tell us a pair of geese just showed up with five babies.
They weren't at Karin's long before she told us Jack seemed to have an injured leg. The next day she said she could see a fishing lure stuck in his leg. Anita and I made a plan to catch Jack and remove the lure. I've never captured a goose before, and I failed at this attempt. Karin told us her ex-husband and son were coming the next day, and I made the mistake of not trying again. Jack slept away from the family that night, I imagine thinking he was a danger to the family. Something got him over night. We were devastated. Lesson 1, clean up around your lake. We allow others to fish on our lake and so does Karin on her lake. We patrol for lures and such, but in no way do we find them all. Lesson 2 - if you think that a goose needs your help, try again. I wish I had.
We had J&D and H&S back the next year! It seems Dianne went to Canada for the winter and found a new love, so we call him Jacques. They had two failed nests the next two years. They were back again this April 2025 and trying again!
This year I watched them return. I saw many geese come and go, but this pair stuck around. When she finally built her nest and settled in on the point in the lake again instead of the pot (I was distressed to see), Jacques started running off any other geese. He had no trouble with singles and even pairs. I watched him run off a goose one morning, then a group of five came in. I wondered what he'd do. He waded in! Seems five was a bit much for him and he came back licking his wounds. He glared at the interlopers until they left. They didn't stay long.
We waited, watched and worried. Every day Dianne was on the nest and Jacques was patrolling the water. May approached, and we knew it would be any day now. My sister came for a visit April 26 to May 1. We were sure she'd get to see babies. It didn't happen. I took her to the airport with no news, but that afternoon there were some changes at the nest. When I drove in after dropping my sister off, I saw Dianne standing on her nest. I took Anita down later and we saw no geese. We went back early in the evening and saw no geese. Then we saw J&D head over. They climbed onto the bank, looked in the nest but bedded down a few feet away. That made us worry. We took the boat over and looked into the nest. It was neat, and the eggs were unexposed. We didn't see a problem but had not seen this before. A little phone research told us that this often happens on the last day or so. The eggs actually create their own heat at this stage and it's just a waiting game.
Dianne and her babies, 2025
May 2, I went down at sunrise. Still no activity in the nest. I took Anita down at 8 o’clock and there was nothing going on. We both went about our day, I had some outside work, and Anita was working on a problem with the trail cams. While I was working, I heard a goose commotion. I decided there must be something going on, so I grabbed the camera and called for Anita. She wasn't in the house, so I headed down. I caught her halfway down and we went together. There's a big hill down to the lake and halfway down I looked through my 800 mm telephoto lens to see what I could. "We have babies!", I said. We walked the rest of the way down and I showed Anita how to stabilize the lens on a tree so she could see a live view of the babies.
Now we have 5 new babies in the Heart of the Country! The surprise to us was how many geese were here. We now have Jaques and Diane. She was on the nest, and Jaques was in the water just below. But we also have others, one on the end of the point where they nested, and the other group half way down the lake past Jacques. We have watched other geese helping raise the babies before. I guess it really does take a Village.
Jaques & Dianne, May 3, 2025