Population Explosion

The National Wildlife Refuges here in the San Luis Valley provide crucial feeding, resting and breeding habitat for over 200 species.  In fact, Monte Vista NWR is one of the most productive duck breeding wetlands in North America.

I've been taking pictures of baby birds since we arrived here, and with breeding wrapping up I thought it was time to show the population explosion that has occurred this summer.  I showed some flying Canada Geese in the last blog, so I'll start with them.

First things first, the egg.  When we arrived here there was a Canada Goose nesting in a large tree in the yard.  Unfortunately that nest wasn't successful, as we later found an egg laying on the ground.

Do you have any idea how big a goose egg is??

Other nests were successful, and we started seeing families in the wetlands as early as late May.

We saw different aged chicks on the same day, so geese were starting their nests at different times.  We saw both of these broods on June 28th.  In the first picture the chicks look quite young, while in the second they are practically the same size as the parents.

So the Canada Geese did well this summer at Monte Vista NWR. 

Stay tuned for Population Explosion, Part II.

Mark