Whitey is missing!

Whitey is one of four feral domestic Greylag geese that have taken up residence on the IPFW campus. They’ve been there at least since summer 06, when I first started paying attention to campus wildlife. Like most escapees and their progeny, they’ve joined up with whatever wild goose flock they can find; the Canada flock is ubiquitous at IPFW. It’s been fun watching their behavior and routines over the past two years. I think, based on this parade order:

that Whitey is the father, the big grey goose in the lead is the mother, and the other two are goslings from a previous year.* They’re nearly always found together (although the larger of the goslings has been wandering off on her own recently), and they’ve established themselves as dominant over the wild Canadas: if you try to give the Canadas a handout, the Honkers (I usually call this gang Whitey and the Honkers for convenience) will run at the Canadas at full tilt and drive them away, then come and eat right out of your hand. It’s fairly comical watching the braver of the Canadas look for an opening when the Honkers aren’t looking, then dash in to grab a kernel of two of corn and dash away before they get pecked at. The Canadas actually seem to be more intimidated by the domestics than they are by people. It’s fascinating, though, that the Honkers will yield to a hissing parent with a clutch of peeping goslings. Parenthood seems to give the Canadas a jolt of aggression and a boost to the top of the pecking order.

I’m worried, though, because Whitey’s gone missing. For the past two weeks, I’ve only seen the three grey Honkers. He isn’t hanging around on either side of the St. Joe where it runs through campus, nor is he over across the street at their overwintering grounds at Johnny Appleseed Park, which, with its dam that keeps the water free of ice year-round, is as far south as they get. I fear the worst, especially considering the unconcern with which some drivers career around the wildlife on campus (I saw a crèche of adorable adolescent Canadas nearly get creamed by an aggressive Citilink driver last week), and considering that I haven’t any idea how old any of them are.

So, you can help. If you see Whitey anywhere on IPFW’s campus or aswim on the St. Joe, let me know. ID isn’t much of a problem: I’ve never seen any other feral Greylags there besides the Honkers, and of the Honkers, he’s the only one that’s pure white. Here’s some more photos of the gang from over the past couple years:

* I’m still new at making these types of determinations (I was raised a city boy, and the whole concept of feral waterfowl was new to me a couple years ago), so these sex and family-role IDs ought to be taken as provisional.

Tags: Birds, Geese