Graylag Geese, Carousel Farm Park, Delaware

In Albums: birds

Aug 22nd, 2006, by Alex Zorach

This photo shows graylag geese in Carousel Farm Park in New Castle County, Delaware. The graylag goose, Anser anser, is the species of goose that is most commonly domesticated, and is usually what people refer to when they think of a typical "barnyard goose".

This park was originally a farm, and presumably, the geese that were kept here were just let to stay and roam free. These geese are somewhat tame, although they behave more like wild geese than domestic geese. If you approach the group too quickly, they can become rather aggressive, and due to their large size, they are a bit more intimidating than Canada geese (which are scary enough!). I do not know if people feed them regularly; I will say that I have been in this park a number of times and I have only rarely seen people feeding them. Their wings are not clipped, and they can fly, although clumsily. To my knowledge, these geese do not breed at all in this park, so this goose population will probably eventually die out unless there is some inflow of escaped domestic geese from elsewhere.

This same park is also home to hundreds of wild Canada geese at various times of the year, who coexist with these larger, clumsier geese.