Canada Goose Family

I think that I have mentioned the two (sometimes three) Canada Geese that have wintered in the pond outside my bedroom window for the past two winters. Last year they left sometime in May and didn't return until late Fall.

This year, they left sometime in May but two of them returned about a week ago. The next day, there were three of them. The third day, six showed up.

I presume they did not go North for the summer and nested here in the South. Once the goslings were able to fly, they brought them home where they get free corn and nobody shoots at them. :smokin:

They are a little like squirrels, a few can be cute but they have no limits. Geese have a particularly annoying habit, they eat big sums of grass which they convert to huge piles of green chit. The more geese the more piles, which they deposit at will :bleh:

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Originally Posted by Mike

I think that I have mentioned the two (sometimes three) Canada Geese that have wintered in the pond outside my bedroom window for the past two winters. Last year they left sometime in May and didn't return until late Fall.

This year, they left sometime in May but two of them returned about a week ago. The next day, there were three of them. The third day, six showed up.

I presume they did not go North for the summer and nested here in the South. Once the goslings were able to fly, they brought them home where they get free corn and nobody shoots at them. :smokin:

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It's quite enjoyable to watch the geese and ducks on a pond.

I'm hoping these come back this year .....

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Originally Posted by Phillbo

I'm hoping these come back this year .....

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Ahh, molting season...:date:...Ben

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Originally Posted by Truckman

Ahh, molting season...:date:...Ben

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An interesting fact about geese. Unlike most birds they do not molt one feather at a time, they molt at once and are rendered flightless until their wing feathers grow back. That period corresponds with the hatching season for the goslings. This flightless period lasts for about 6 weeks while the goslings grow their own flight feathers.

It is probably one of God's more ingenious moves---the parents are forced to stay home and mind the kids :hatoff:

Geese also mate for life and unlike some other "mated" species they are monogamous.

As for birds that progressively molt, they shed the same feather at the same time on each wing :cool:

We have many breeds of birds that come here to nest on the Great Salt Lake. There's even a well know Pink Pelican that shows up with them.

However, it's all at risk. Like lakes Powell and Mead, our lake is drying up - to the lowest level in modern history. Our Legislature is spending millions in an attempt to save it. I hope it works.

Hunter

What feeds the salt lake? Is it a lack of snow pack like the issue for Powell?

The lake is fed by the Bear, Weber, and Jordan rivers. Some will claim that the Ogden River also feeds into the Lake but I am not so sure of that one. All flow westward from the Wasatch Mountains. The Wasatch receive considerable snow fall in a normal year as well as a fair amount of rain the remainder of the year since the weather is moving from west to east.

The primary reason for the high salinity is a lack of an outflow. The only water that leaves the lake does so by vaporization which essentially is a distillation process which leaves the salts behind.

There is a Morton Salt plant (and I think one or two more) that extract the salts from the lake. They are very closely controlled by the state and are allowed to extract only an annually fixed tonnage of salt. The purpose of that is to maintain a somewhat constant salinity.

There is (maybe was) a commercial fishing industry on the lake. Brine shrimp are about the only animal life in the lake and they are harvested with oversite of the State. They are primarily sold as fish food.

The most notable life form might be the brine flies----by the billions!!!:AHHH: They feed on the algae that grows in the lake---and mostly blows up on the eastern shore. The swarms are not something you would ever want to see :nono: They seem to die in swarms and blanket the water :o:

The algae causes one of the rudest tricks played by the lake----it rots and can make the east side of the lake almost uninhabitable from the stench!

Ages ago the lake was much deeper---the water line is clearly visible on many of the mountains. It is called Lake Bonneville and at that time it flowed out into the Snake river. During a flood about 14,500 years ago it "blew out" into the Snake and dropped the water level by about 350'

Attachment 39068

Attachment 39070

The horizontal lines (2) that can be seen here are former water levels, the top one 16,000 years ago and the lower one 14,000 years ago.

The 14,000 year old blow out which took the lake to it's modern level cut the Snake River Canyon at Twin Falls Idaho---the same Canyon that Evil Knievel tried to jump.

Attachment 39071

Sea Monkeys - Dammit. If you had 'em as a kid (I did) they came from the Great Salt Lake. What they are is brine shrimp, which come to life when they are put in water.

If I recall, my Sea Monkeys lived about a week.

Hunter