Pictures of Little Goslings

 baby geese

Embden Geese Goslings

This photo journal features some very new goslings. Wildlife photographer AnnMackieMiller lets the baby geese tell their own story in this light-hearted article.

There is such a lot to learn when you are fresh out of the egg.

Lesson number one: Stick close to Mum ... or Dad, preferably both!

Goslings are born able to feed themselves but sometimes it takes a bit of practice. This lot seemed to handle themselves fine, if a little enthusiatically at times.

Then you have to learn how to get out of trouble, how to get along with your brother and sisters and how to get Mum to let you snuggle.

It's all hard work for a gosling.

Learning how to graze

'Opps' Tugged too hard there

Clue to perfect grazing:

Embden Don't tug on the grass too hard or you end up on your bottom.

1. Take a GOOD look. 

   

   Close inspection needed'

   
   

   Learning to duck and dive

   

   Trouble? Dive, dive, dive

   At the first hint of trouble - duck and dive.

   The first day out on the canal and it is a scary place. Goslings and ducklings both learn to dive their way out of trouble where ever they can. Adult geese also use ducking under the water to escape.

   The little one in the picture was spooked by another adult goose.

"I'm going under..."

I'll just stay behind Mum

Safe

Learning to spead the love

We may fight a lot but we still love each other.

Geese show affection to each other. As adults it tends to be very loud, with goslings, not so much.

"now now children, no fighting"

Adult Embden goose with two goslings

Adult Embden goose with two goslings

"I luvs ya really."

Learning to snuggle

Don't be afraid to show what you want. When there is a cold wind blowing and your tummy is full, what better spot than under Mum's wing?

These day old goslings are looking for some heat under Mum while Dad keeps watch for baddies.

"Let me in Mum"

"It's cold out here."

"Snuggle time."

Information about these geese

These are part of a large flock of domestic geese gone wild living onGreenhill. Mostly they are white Embden geese but there are also Toulous geese who have more grey feathering. There is also a mix of both with some greylag goose thrown in. One Canada goose was seen mating with a white male but this is unusual and it remains to be seen if there are any goslings as a result.

The female of this partnership is pure white while the male has grey feathering on his wings. If you look at the goslings, you will notice they have some dark patches among the yellow. These are likely to turn into grey markings when they are fully grown.

The all-white geese are harder to identify but with observation you can notice differences in beak markings and the hue of their legs, some can be very pale. The females are all considerably smaller than the males.