Geese!?!

I checked 19 nests today...found a pair of ospreys on two nests and single birds on 5 nests. Unfortunately I also found a nest occupied by a pair of geese that are incubating. Darn it! But this has happened before, it's becoming a regular thing now...at least one nest every year. I hate to see the ospreys displaced but we will watch and see what happens. The ospreys will probably find another nesting spot nearby. Would love to be there to see how they react when they return! Can't remember if I have told this story here before, but many years ago some geese tried to take over an osprey nest. When the ospreys returned they managed to chase off the geese.The osprey laid their eggs and one day a neighbor called me to report that the osprey chicks were hatching...but I knew they had not incubated long enough so it was not possible for hatching to have occurred. They insisted they could see a little yellow chick up there. But osprey chicks are not yellow! So I ran out there and discovered the ospreys had hatched a gosling! Apparently the geese had left an egg behind. As many of you may know, waterfowl eggs are a little different than raptor eggs. Geese and ducks can lay many eggs and do not begin incubating until they lay the last egg. The eggs can survive a period of time without incubation. However, ospreys begin incubating when they lay the first egg, otherwise the eggs may die.  It was an amazing thing to watch, as they tried to feed it fish and the gosling crawled all over mama osprey and snuggled beside her. They never displayed any hostility towards this odd creature. On day four however, the gosling disappeared...either died of starvation or dehydration, or it jumped off the nest to go be a goose (tho it would have been imprinted so the outcome would not be a happy one for that little guy).

Anyway, more ospreys are returning now. I am frustrated that I don't have more time to spend in the field. Life gets complicated sometimes...