In this month of wedding vows …
Jon Mularczyk confirmed that there are still four snow geese at the Martin’s Creek PP&L lands in Northampton County. This species is quite unusual in Pennsylvania in June.
All the other five million snow geese are nesting at their arctic breeding grounds right now and their eggs are about to hatch. The four geese near Bangor, PA should have left months ago.
Why are they still here? Because they mate for life.
When snow geese are two years old they choose a mate … forever. Their pair bond is so strong and so permanent that they will never abandon each other as long as they live. The bird pictured above is able-bodied and could fly to the arctic but his mate, below, has a broken wing. He won’t leave without her.
The other two geese are probably their one-year old “kids.” Young snow geese stay with their parents during their first round-trip migration so if Mom and Dad get stuck in Pennsylvania the kids stay, too. Family ties are important.
Humans could learn a lot from snow geese.
Til death do us part.
(photos by Jon Mularczyk, Broad-Winged Photography)
Do you happen to know if there is a snow goose that hangs out on the North Shore with Canada Geese? When I do the river walk at lunch I see a white bird among all those geese and have not identified it yet.
Hayley, if I’m remembering that goose correctly it’s an escaped barnyard goose.
Hi Kate. Come winter , will the young leave with the migrating Snow geese as they pass through and the mate stay with her? Will they survive the winter here? Are they breeding here instead? So many questions!
Lol! Thank you!
Will the Snow Geese “kids” end up staying in Pa., too, because they don’t learn to migrate with their parents?
Doug, Judi and Mom Tee, some answers about the snow geese: I’m not sure what the “kids” will do. The family made a partial migration to get this far. Snow geese spend the winter in that part of Pennsylvania so they are fine there all year round (see map at this link) but they won’t breed there.
I don’t know what the “kids” will do next winter/spring. Typically the young leave their parents when the flock reaches the breeding grounds. I hope we get updates from birders in the area.