Art, good spot on the odd Canada goose behavior. I too have witnessed this and I think the Ankeny honkers are particularly adept. I know that one or more pairs nest annually on the Casey's Corporate office building, and others in Ankeny's bigbox/stripmall/honker/mallard mile. I have seen building nesting also in Toronto,ON and Winnipeg, MB. My first encounter with this behavior was in a hunting scenario. A pair of local giants made wide circle around me and landed gracefully on the peak of a nearby barn. I was surprised as they made their final approach for the farmyard, then totally bewildered when they lit on the roof. On the topic, a noteworthy sighting: there is a Canada goose nesting on the Ames municipal mulch pile on east 13th street, approximately 11ft above ground level. I don't advocate approaching a nesting bird for bird watching, but she is very used to people at a distance. Folks are digging mulch there constantly. On Friday city workers were scooping at the pile about 10m away with a bobcat/skid-loader and she remained on her nest.
Drake ps- don't forget to look down too. multiple morels were spotted in central Iowa over the weekend. > 23. Goose behavior > > Subject: Goose behavior > From: Art Check <[email protected]> > Date: Sun, 1 May 2011 20:07:51 -0700 (PDT) > X-Message-Number: 23 > > > --0-314957331-1304305671=:99170 > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 > Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable > > Birders- > =A0 > Last Monday (sorry for late post) I observed some unusual behavior > displaye= > d by some Canada Geese on not one, but two seperate and unrelated > occasions= > .=A0=20 > First, I was driving along I-35 through Ankeny by the Mill Pond retirement > = > facility.=A0 As I drove South, I noticed a Canada Goose seemingly hovering > = > over one of the buildings (which I believe was 3 stories tall).=A0 I did a > = > double take as it gently landed on the roof of the building at the > peak.=A0= > As intrigued as I was, I felt that steering my car straight going 70 in 3 > = > lanes of traffic was probably more important, so I was only able to see > thi= > s well for a few seconds. > Secondly, I met Bob Cecil in Des Moines who kindly showed me an area that > h= > ad lots of the Phragmites grass I have been searching out (thanks to all > fo= > r their replies on that by the way!).=A0=20 > As we were leaving there, we looked up in a large tree (cottonwood I > think)= > , and saw a pair of Canada geese sitting in a crotch of the tree with one > o= > f them peering into the end of a large broken limb.=A0 I do have a couple > o= > f pictures of them sitting there on the limb, which must have been 30 feet > = > up or so.=A0 I do not yet have any evidence that they were nesting or > attem= > pting to do so, but I just found it very interesting. > Bob was able to find a couple of references of Canada's cavity nesting; > hav= > e any of you seen this type of behavior, whether it be nesting or just > seei= > ng these birds in these somewhat peculiar circumstances?=A0 Is there some > b= > iblical event about to take place or was it just unusual to see unusual > beh= > avior twice in one day?=A0 (Do 2 unusuals make 1 usual?)=A0 Or did I add > so= > mething unusual to my coffee that morning without realizing it? > =A0 > Unusually yours, > =A0 > Art Check > Nevada > --0-314957331-1304305671=:99170 > > --- Please contribute your sightings to our list; it is only as good as members make it! --- Birding channel recommendation for FRS/GMRS radio use: Primary selection; channel 5/0 , alternate selection; channel 6/0 --- This mailing list is sponsored by the Iowa Ornithologists' Union. Membership available on-line at http://www.iowabirds.org/iou/membership.asp. ----- You are currently subscribed to ia-bird as: [email protected]
