Mother Goose Rounds Up 47 Goslings & Cares For Them Like Family

Mar 29, 2023

A man in Canada was lucky enough to capture a beautiful moment of a mother goose being followed by plenty of her little baby goslings (baby goose). Each time Mike Digout went outside and noticed the mother goose, he snapped a photo of her and her adorable babies, but something strange started happening. More and more goslings appeared as the days continued, totaling at one point at a whopping 47 fluffy baby goslings.

Digout took the photos and uploaded them to Facebook in May 2020 after going out day after day to check on the family of geese. He had originally gone out with the intention of observing the wildlife in his area and hoped to capture some stunning photographs of beavers. He got sidetracked on his mission when he met the mother goose and her plethora of goslings.

The goose he observed for days in the Saskatchewan River was the perfect example of a motherly figure. She took in plenty of babies — some that were her own and others that weren’t — and provided them all with a sense of security and safety, and of course, a loving figure to turn to.

This gaggle of geese was beautiful to look at in the picturesque wildlife setting. The river stretched for 340 miles and was full of stunning nature and home to a plethora of animals. Even though Digout wasn’t planning on finding the large bird and her tiny goslings, he couldn’t stop checking on them throughout the month as he watched them grow in both number and size.

During an interview with The Dodo in June 2020, Digout revealed that he was never a big fan of Canadian geese, but he might have changed his mind last spring. It was back in the early stages of lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic when Digout started taking daily walks along the Saskatchewan riverbank near his home in Saskatoon, Canada. Finally having some time to truly appreciate nature and take in all its beauty, Digout decided to bring his camera with him on his adventures to capture the wildlife around him.

“I was out every night walking on the riverbank looking for beavers and, of course, there was a lot of geese activity as they were coming from the south and looking for a place to nest,” Digout said. “It got to be quite entertaining to watch the geese fighting over places to nest and protecting their nests.”

According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Canadian geese prefer their nests on a slightly elevated site near water with a fairly unobstructed view so they can see in many different directions. Female geese are the ones who select the nesting site and do most of the construction for it by lining the nest with feathers.

Digout’s feelings toward geese began changing as he spent more time observing them, and he was lucky enough to find the first batch of goslings that had recently hatched. “They’re so cute when they’re little, like little tennis balls with legs,” Digout said. “So I started taking pictures of the goslings while I was waiting for the beavers to come around."

The Dodo reported that Digout initially noticed the mother goose and her large group of kids while sitting alongside the riverbank one night in May 2020. The babies crawled under their mother’s feathers to sleep safely at night. “I was stunned that this mom had 16 babies, so I started going back every night looking for this mom and her goslings,” Digout explained. “And every day it seemed like she had a bigger group.”

As the days continued on, Digout counted more and more babies following their mother. He counted 25 one day, then 30 the next, until it seemed like the number had capped at a whopping 47 fluffy goslings. According to The Dodo, Digout realized that the mother goose and her trustworthy mate must have been caring for babies from many different families.

This phenomenon, known as a gang brood, is actually pretty common in urban and suburban areas that have high nest density, according to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Gang broods can range from 20 up to 100 goslings, and they usually follow just a few adult geese. In this instance, however, the 47 goslings were following a single mama goose. “It was incredible how calm she was with so many goslings around,” Digout said. “She seems like such a patient mom.”

As of June 2022, the gang brood had split into three large family units, according to The Dodo. The now famous mother goose and her mate still kept 25 babies in their crew and have continued to watch them sleep in a big pile since they can no longer fit under their mom’s feathery wings.

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