MRS. NO-STOP
April 27, 2008
Mrs. No-Stop nests beside a No-Stop sign. Her mate watches a short distance away.
Mrs. No-Stop tends to her eggs. This photograph is featured in the April 2008 Love Canada Geese calendar.
April 27, 2008
Mrs. No-Stop nests beside a No-Stop sign. Her mate watches a short distance away.
Mrs. No-Stop tends to her eggs. This photograph is featured in the April 2008 Love Canada Geese calendar.
It was a brutally cold first week of April, 2007, when we noticed a pair of geese huddling beside each other near a No-Stop sign close to our house. We were surprised that any geese remained at all because the cold snap had turned the melting marsh into solid ice and the ducks and geese who had returned from the south the week before had suddenly vanished, probably to head back south.
We offered the couple some grain but did not expect them to stay throughout the deep freeze. We returned a few days later and they were still there. We didn't know if they were planning to nest because they were always seen together. They didn't warm up to us, always moving away from us when we visited them.
By the third week of April, Mrs. No-Stop was incubating beside the No-Stop sign. She didn't budge when we walked up to her nest and her mate would walk up toward her but not threaten us in any way. We continued to leave them a little grain during our visits. April had been wet but May was extremely dry and the small puddle of water near their nest began to dry up rapidly.
By May 11, there was no water at the nest site and we began to worry about them. Would they abandon their nest at this late stage, we wondered. Would the eggs hatch?
We brought them a dish of water and visited the next evening but to our alarm, Mrs. No-Stop was all alone. Her mate was gone! We spent a sleepless night worrying about Mrs. No-Stop, all alone at the nest site with no gander to protect her. We had become attached to the sweet little goose over the past five weeks.
Early the next morning, we rushed to the nest site. The No-Stops were gone. There were broken egg shells on the nest so obviously, they had had their babies and had immediately left the nest site.
There was a pond about a half-mile from the nest site. To get to it, they would have to cross a very busy highway. We went to the pond, hoping to find them there. There were a handful of geese families on it but they stayed away from us and we were unable to definitively tell if they were among them.
There was another pond about another half-mile from this pond. This large retention pond was located beside a technical college and there were several ponds adjoining it. We began to visit the two ponds weekly, hoping to see The No-Stops.
The No-Stops with their five-week old goslings. June 2007
We offered the couple some grain but did not expect them to stay throughout the deep freeze. We returned a few days later and they were still there. We didn't know if they were planning to nest because they were always seen together. They didn't warm up to us, always moving away from us when we visited them.
By the third week of April, Mrs. No-Stop was incubating beside the No-Stop sign. She didn't budge when we walked up to her nest and her mate would walk up toward her but not threaten us in any way. We continued to leave them a little grain during our visits. April had been wet but May was extremely dry and the small puddle of water near their nest began to dry up rapidly.
By May 11, there was no water at the nest site and we began to worry about them. Would they abandon their nest at this late stage, we wondered. Would the eggs hatch?
We brought them a dish of water and visited the next evening but to our alarm, Mrs. No-Stop was all alone. Her mate was gone! We spent a sleepless night worrying about Mrs. No-Stop, all alone at the nest site with no gander to protect her. We had become attached to the sweet little goose over the past five weeks.
Early the next morning, we rushed to the nest site. The No-Stops were gone. There were broken egg shells on the nest so obviously, they had had their babies and had immediately left the nest site.
There was a pond about a half-mile from the nest site. To get to it, they would have to cross a very busy highway. We went to the pond, hoping to find them there. There were a handful of geese families on it but they stayed away from us and we were unable to definitively tell if they were among them.
There was another pond about another half-mile from this pond. This large retention pond was located beside a technical college and there were several ponds adjoining it. We began to visit the two ponds weekly, hoping to see The No-Stops.
The No-Stops with their five-week old goslings. June 2007
A couple of weeks later, I spotted Mrs. No-Stop and her mate and their three goslings among the families at the technical college pond. We'd discovered their brooding site! Seeing them with their goslings was a thrill for us because there had been a missing piece of puzzle before the discovery. The No-Stops recognized us and came up to us, which pleased us even more. We saw them over the next couple of weeks but by the end of July, they had vanished. We thought they might have flown away with their fully-fledged goslings, gone pond-hopping, perhaps.
Then we heard alarming news on TV: cars had plowed through two families of geese who had crossed the very busy highway beside the technical college pond. Could the No-Stops have been involved?
Then we heard alarming news on TV: cars had plowed through two families of geese who had crossed the very busy highway beside the technical college pond. Could the No-Stops have been involved?
2008 UPDATE
Mrs. No Stop tending to her eggs. April 22, 2008
You can imagine our happiness and relief to welcome The No-Stops back from the south in early April. They're back at the exact same location and Mrs. No-Stop's nest is - you guessed it! - beside the No-Stop pole! We have become very attached to this couple with their funny ways and think of them as our children.
You can imagine our happiness and relief to welcome The No-Stops back from the south in early April. They're back at the exact same location and Mrs. No-Stop's nest is - you guessed it! - beside the No-Stop pole! We have become very attached to this couple with their funny ways and think of them as our children.
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