Coloured Pencil on Drafting Film
18.75 " x 11.75 " (matted & framed size)

Did you know that the Canada Goose is monogamous? They’re also loving, dedicated and extremely protective parents, as anyone who’s gotten just a bit too close to a gosling may have discovered!

Canada Geese usually find their mate in their second year of life and stay with their chosen partner their entire life. They typically live well into their teens and even 20s, so they stay happily joined longer than many human couples do! They’ve even displayed evidence of grief and mourning, and if its life-long partner dies, a goose will go through a mourning process of losing weight, separating itself for a time from its flock and becoming very passive to other geese. Eventually, though, the bereaved goose will find another mate, typically one who has also lost its partner.

The female lays from two to nine eggs with an average clutch of five. As in this drawing, the parents are often seen leading their goslings in a line, usually with one adult at the front, and the other at the back, for protection from anything from squirrels to too-bold humans.

The goslings are unable to fly until about 6-9 weeks of age and stay with their parents until the following spring migration, when they return to their birthplace and go off to find a mate of their own.