Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)

County List:

Rule:

Forested or Nonforested Landscapes

Nesting and Brood Rearing Habitats are Adjacent to each other and Migrating Habitat Requirements may be distributed over the NEIGHBORHOOD 

Nesting Habitat:
      (Lake or Pond or Sewage Lagoons & Farm Ponds)
   adjacent to:
      Any Emergent Wetland

Brood Rearing Habitat:
      (Sedge Meadow or Grass or Fields/Pastures or Residential)
   adjacent to:
      (Lake or Pond or Farm Pond/Sewage Lagoon)

Migration Habitat:
      Any Open Water
   neighboring: 
      Any Cropland

Habitat List:

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Literature:

Canada Geese nest in a wide range of wetland habitats. Usually 2 ha or more of permanent open water are required. The nest site is usually associated with emergent wetland vegetation; muskrat houses and beaver lodges are preferred, though elevated areas on floating mats are frequently used. Natural and man-made islands are utilized extensively.

Another habitat requirement is access to upland grazing areas. If the nesting area does not include this component families will travel considerable distances to suitable brood-rearing areas, often gathering in large flocks.

Habitat: Breeding: Coastal salt marshes, shores of ponds and lakes, grassy fields. Wintering: Ice-free lakes, rivers, ponds, and coastal marshes that provide resting and feeding sites and agricultural lands that provide additional grazing areas.

Special Habitat Requirements: Shallow water, abundant plant foods.

Habitat: Lakes, ponds, bays, marshes, fields. Very diverse, using different habitats in different regions; always nests near water, winters where feeding areas are within commuting distance of water. Nesting habitats include tundra, fresh marshes, salt marshes, lakes in wood country. Often feeds in open fields, especially in winter. In recent years, also resident in city parks, suburban ponds.

Diet: Mostly plant material. Feeds on a very wide variety of plants. Eats stems and shoots of grasses, sedges, aquatic plants, also seeds and berries; consumes many cultivated grains (especially on refuges, where crops are planted for geese). Also eats some insects, mollusks, crustaceans, sometimes small fish.

Nest: Site is usually on slightly elevated dry ground near water, with good visibility. Much variation; may nest on cliff ledges, on muskrat houses, in trees, on artificial platforms. Nest is slight depression with shallow bowl of sticks, grass, weeds, moss, lined with down.