The goose population has been increasing in northern Wisconsin. Ten years ago, a Canada Goose was an infrequent sight on one of our study lakes. Geese were confined chiefly to a few large lakes and seen overhead only as they migrated northwards. But no more. Now we encounter adult geese and often pairs with goslings on about half of our study lakes.

Apparently the increased availability of waste grain from agriculture, the proliferation of lawns, and increased temperatures have fueled the explosion in goose numbers, which has the potential to impact loon reproductive success. You see, geese and loons both prefer nesting sites safe from mammalian egg predators like raccoons and foxes. Such sites are often on islands and are limited in number. If a small island offers the only available safe nesting on a lake, goose and loon pairs are both likely gravitate to it.

The problem is not merely that loons must now compete with geese for nesting sites; geese actually get “first dibs”. While both loons and geese incubate their clutches for about four weeks, geese initiate their clutches two weeks or so in advance of loons. (The earlier onset of goose nesting is evident right now in our study area, as many goose pairs are rearing their broods of two to six goslings, while the earliest loon nests will not hatch for another week or ten days.) On occasion geese and loons nest within a few meters of each other on islands — as we observed on Oneida Lake a few years ago. Coexistence between the species is possible. But the presence of a sitting goose appears to discourage loons from nesting nearby, which often forces loon pairs to select sub-optimal sites for incubation.

Consider the plight of the Clear Lake loon pair. The safest, most desirable nest location on Clear Lake is a small shrubby island off of the public boat landing. Loons have shown a strong preference to nest on this island during most years. This year, the geese got their first, and the loons had to settle for a new nesting location on a long peninsula about two kilometers south. They may hatch chicks off of this peninsula, but the site is not offshore, like the shrubby island, so it is clearly vulnerable to mammalian egg predators.

I am optimistic that this spunky loon pair will be able to pull off a hatch. As can be seen from our shaky video, the male (on the right in the video) is still working on improving the surrounding nesting area, and the pair has a well-constructed nest with two eggs (visible to the left of the female, after the camera pans left). Still, this well-constructed nest will not protect them from a scavenging raccoon that ambles by.