Cool Critters: Honk if you love Canada geese dads

On this Father’s Day, you won’t find a papa Canada goose lounging in a hammock or enjoying seared steak. He’s too preoccupied with being a dad.

And a good one at that.

It’s hard to miss the nearly 3-foot-tall Canada goose with its long black neck and distinctive white chinstrap that extends just beneath each eye. For several decades, Canada geese have been hanging out at out at parks, golf courses, reservoirs, sports fields and other urban landscapes where they thrive.

This time of year, mated pairs are raising young families and the dads, or ganders, take their roles very seriously. John James Audubon, who cataloged most of our continent’s native bird species in “Birds of America,” described them as devoted to their families and fierce protectors.

Once, when Audubon tried to get within several feet of a gander, “he met my fingers with his bill and bit me so severely that I gave it up,” he wrote.

That’s right, don’t cross Big Papa. If he’s standing in the middle of a paved hiking path with his family nearby, give him a wide berth.

“Right now, they’re standing guard,” according to Kyle Spragens, waterfowl manager with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. “Goslings leave the nest early and are now closely following their parents, who are very protective of them,” he said. “The males can get pretty territorial.”

And the dads will remain that way another few weeks until their offspring can fly. In early summer, younglings can swim and dive to escape predators, but most lack adult feathers to fly, Spragens explained.

So, as flightless goslings move side by side with their parents, “the ganders are on high alert,” he said, adding that they may hiss, pump their heads up and down, lunge or flap their wings at people and pets that get too close.

This feathered father is also a good co-parent. Unlike the male hummingbird who takes off minutes after mating, the male Canada goose typically partners for life and shares the responsibility of raising offspring.

This includes teaching the chicks how to find diverse food sources, avoid threatening situations and how to fly. The transition to adulthood is a gradual one, with the juveniles staying with parents for about a year.

Parental instincts are so strong that the male and his mate often merge with other families to form a large communal flock called a gang brood, Spragens said.

“The more experienced couple takes on babies from the less experienced couple to help teach and also to provide extra eyes for guarding,” he explained. They will even adopt orphaned goslings and sometimes ducklings, he said.

Perhaps one of the best adages on human parenting is derived from the Canada goose: first we give them roots, then we give them wings.