An unusual alliance

[John]

Following on from Digi's post regarding A Greylag palling up with some Egyptian Geese I thought you would be interested in the following tale. I have already added a small part of it to digi's thread but I can expand a bit more with this thread.

Last year, on a river that runs through our town (Leamington Spa), it was noticed that a white Goose was associating closely with two Swans. Wherever the pair of Swans went this Goose followed.

We didn’t think too much into it at first but not long after the Swans set a nest on the bank sides of the river, just across from where I work, and who should be there, yes the Goose. After a while the female started to sit on the eggs and unbelievably the Goose sat right beside her, shoulder to shoulder, with the Cob laying guard down on the river, which was about three feet down from the nest. From time to time all three sat together around the nest.

The Goose never left the females side and then it was noticed that the Cob was getting agitated when some Canada Geese came close, so much so that it went for one that came within 6 feet of him. The white Goose also took off from the nest and flew at the Canada Goose as well. As soon as the C Goose left the area the white Goose took its place alongside the female on the nest and the Cob took its place on the river under the nest.

The river was below our offices (before we moved) and on one day one of our staff shouted that the Swans were coming up the river with Cygnets. Three of them were nestling on the back of the female and three on the river. Which was the nearest bird to them, yes the Goose. We watched them for a good part of the day and most of that morning and the Goose was never further than a few inches from the Cygnets, at times shepherding them away from possible danger and frightening off ducks and geese that came too close. It soon became obvious that it was more attentive to the Cygnets than even the Swans were.

On one of my work days I rushed home in my lunch hour and grabbed my Digital camera and rushed back to work. I managed a few quick shots, not as good as I would have liked, but they show the unusual family together on the river.

I must admit that the way those Swans allowed that goose to become so close to them, at a time that they are normally quite aggressive, amazed me.

The nest was on the riverbank right under a wooden boardwalk that has a metal railing alongside it. One day, as I approached the nest area, 3 men were leaning against the rail looking at the birds. One of them turned as I stopped by them and said that I should have been there 5 minutes earlier as all hell had broken loose when the Swans had turned on the goose and attacked it trying to drown it by forcing it under water and going for it each time it tried to surface. Unbelievably 5 minutes later there they were on the bank side getting along with each other as they were long lost friends with the goose right by the side of the female, who was sitting on her chicks.

It came to a point where none of the birds had shown for about 10 days so I was a bit surprised when one of my work colleagues shouted out that the Goose was back. I looked through the window and sure enough it was just below the window paddling towards a Swan that was about 100 yards away. They disappeared into the bankside vegitation so I waited until lunch time to go look for them.

As I approached the old nest area there was the Goose, sitting right where the Cygnets had been. A swan (the male I presume) was below the bird giving itself a good dunking in the river. Before long it clambered onto the bank and the Goose moved towards it in what almost appeared to be a welcoming gesture. They both settled down side by side preening. The only thing missing was the Cygnets and the other Swan.

That was a shame but seeing this Goose with the remaining Swan still seems like an unusual alliance in itself.

6 days later I saw two Swans, without the Cygnets, under our balcony. On further inspection it was obvious that at least one of the birds was of the pair that raised the chicks with the goose. On one leg was an orange band with the letters LH or LFE on it and that, I'm sure, was the same band as was on the presumed Cob. Seeing as they are supposedly paired up for life it didn't augur well for the young ones. There was no sign of the goose either since our previous sighting so it's any ones guess as to what had happened.

I never did find out what was the final outcome and the Goose was never seen again. That could be slightly wrong as a couple of months ago I was driving over the Warwickshire Avon, close to Kenilworth and on the bankside were a pair of white Geese. I would like to think that one of them was the white goose.

Below are a few photos to look at that will show you what we saw.

John

[digi]

An interesting story John backed up with good images.

Thanks

[cherrybee]

What a wonderful story thanks for telling and the photos were wonderful