Having paid a visit to my friend the loose goose today, I was pleased to see it was still alive and in the river. It is very vulnerable to attack with the inability to fly. I had a chance to have a close look at the right wing after it had a bath and was preening itself. It has been clipped by someone in order that it cannot fly, and has kept it for breeding or maybe a guard or pet . I made a few honking sounds and it came to me readily , a wild goose would never do this. I will take vets advice tomorrow and see where we go from there. You can clearly see the clipped flight feathers in the close ups I took today, also a bit of video below.Regarding the Cygnets, they are all back in the river at the merryton bridge. The parents have cut them off, and tolerate them up by the bridge well away from the harbour and island.
They will go at some point in the next few weeks prior to the parents mating again.
Maybe this bird needs to be in an animal sanctuary or similar Joe. I saw it have a narrow escape with a dog on the riverbank. It just doesn't have the same agility that the ducks have to avoid any potential trouble.
ReplyDeleteAye, was looking up my bird book and it says that greylag geese lose all their flight feathers at the same time between May and August and are flightless for about 4 weeks. Keeping it safe until it gets new flight feathers will be the answer.They can dive to escape predators, but on land they are vulnerable. Will get something organised shortly.
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