HULSCHER JB, VOSLAMBER B & NIENHUIS J (2016) Mother and daughter Greater Canada Goose Branta canadensis breeding in the same nest in succession: what were the consequences?. LIMOSA 89 (3): 124-127.
A pair of Canada Geese marked with neck collars bred
successfully since at least 2010 on a small island in a pond
in the village of Haren, the Netherlands. Every year they
took their young, at an age of 22-31 days, to a public park
about 1Â km away where other pairs rear young and nonbreeding
Canada Geese moult flight feathers. A daughter of
the pair, born in 2011, with her mate established a territory in
the vicinity of the breeding island in 2014 and 2015. In both
years their breeding attempts were unsuccessful due to
disturbance and predation.
In 2015 two other daughters appeared in the pond, together
with one male. These birds acted as a trio. On 30 April three
out of eight eggs hatched in the parent’s nest. The remaining
infertile eggs were removed by us. The first daughter had
just started a second clutch around 3 May at the edge of the
pond. This nest contained two eggs, but was abandoned
and she continued laying in the nest of her mother on the
island from 6 May onwards. All four eggs in this nest hatched
on 4 June.
The mother and her partner took their two 31 days old chicks
(one died) to the public park on 30 May. A week later they
started primary moult. The daughter and her mate walked
their 33 days old chicks to the park on 6 July. This was almost a
week after they themselves had started moulting primaries,
and the first time any parents with chicks made this walk with
shed flight feathers. We assume this involved a higher risk for
the flightless adults. However the consequences seemed to
be more serious for the parental pair, as the daughter pair
conquered and bred on the island in 2016, driving their
parents and sibling pairs away.
[pdf only for members] [dutch summary]
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