Canada geese are busy building families

No winter lasts forever, and April proves it.

Along the North Shore of Lake Superior, April is waterfalls season. There are many waterfalls and hikes to discover, with the snow and the ice melting. In central Minnesota, black bears have and are continuing to come out of their sleeping dens. Here in the southern part of the state, if you and your dog have been walking in tallgrass areas be sure to check for wood ticks. Yes, they are out.

The first painted turtles have been seen up on pond logs sunning themselves, honey bees have been collecting pollen mostly from silver maples and willows, and at least two of the nine species of butterflies that hibernate as adults — mourning cloak and comma — have been on the wing and sunning. Also in southern Minnesota, the first-of-year tree swallows, yellow-rumped warblers and chipping sparrows have returned. Most lakes are ice-free.

While maple syrup producers keep collecting sap and boiling it down to syrup, many of the local Canada geese are on nests and incubating eggs. Nesting sites are chosen in March. Eggs are laid in late March or sometime in April.

Egg-laying is triggered by open water. The female chooses the nest's location, close to where she was hatched herself. The nest is most often by water and preferably on a small island, even as small as a muskrat house. Using grasses, parts of cattail plants, reeds and leaves, the female builds a nest around herself. She alone will incubate between five and six eggs, although clutch sizes vary from one to 10 eggs. The young hatch and are ready to leave the nest about 28 days after the last egg is laid. During the nesting period, the female will lose 25%-30% of her body weight because of fasting forced by incubating.

Many times, the only indication of a nest is the outstretched head of the male standing guard. Hidden in the grasses and neck down, the female maintains a low profile. The male makes sure that late-arriving geese do not enter the territory and that foxes, raccoons and other potential predators of the eggs are driven off. Females also will help defend against predators.

Males are so essential that if killed during the incubation period, the female will give up the nest. Soon after hatching, both parents lead their brood of 4-ounce, downy, yellow-brown goslings across a waterway to a safe hillside to graze on new grass blades.

This year we can expect to see the first newly hatched goslings in early May.

Jim Gilbert has taught and worked as a naturalist for more than 50 years.