Canada goose

Flock of Canada geese in a misty field beside a round hay bale at sunrise

Before the snow has fully let go of the fields, you hear them: a ragged, honking line of geese pushing north across the prairie. Canada geese are usually among the first spring arrivals in Manitoba, often showing up in late March or April while the ponds are still rimmed with ice. Pairs settle into wetlands and field edges to nest, and by May the first fuzzy yellow goslings are paddling after their parents.

Canada geese mate for life, and both parents guard the young. Goslings can walk and swim within a day or so of hatching. In midsummer the adults molt their flight feathers and spend a few weeks unable to fly, so families stay close to water. By autumn the skeins are back overhead, flying in V formations that let each bird draft off the one ahead. Most head south as freeze-up arrives, usually from October into November, though a few stay wherever open water lasts.

For more on the Canada goose and its habitat, see its species guide at All About Birds.

Field notes in photographs

  • Flock of Canada geese in a misty field beside a round hay bale at sunrise
  • Pair of Canada geese swimming with goslings along a reedy shoreline
  • Canada geese taking off from a wet field with wings spread
  • Two Canada geese running across the water, wings spread, as they take off
  • Two Canada geese on shallow water, one honking
  • Canada geese on shallow water, one stretching its wings
  • Canada goose standing on melting snow
  • Canada goose and goslings in a green grain field
  • Goslings gathered among the cattails
  • Pair of Canada geese swimming with a brood of goslings
  • Fluffy goslings swimming in sunlit water
  • Canada goose walking past three goslings on short grass
  • Canada goose goslings swimming along the reeds
  • Canada goose photographed in Manitoba, 1
  • Canada goose photographed in Manitoba, 6
  • Canada goose resting on the ground with a brood of fluffy yellow goslings tucked in beside her, Manitoba
  • Pair of Canada geese swimming with six goslings between them, Manitoba
  • Six Canada geese grazing on a green clearing in front of poplar trees and a fallen log, Manitoba
  • Canada geese resting on snow with one in flight
  • Two Canada goslings walking through grass

Canada goose Manitoba sightings

Where and when you can find the canada goose in Manitoba depends on the season and the habitat. You can see more species in the Manitoba birds section.

Map of Manitoba showing where the canada goose nests, with major cities and lakes
Where to look for the canada goose in Manitoba through the seasons: nesting in the Boreal Shield, the Taiga Shield, the Hudson Plains, the Southern Arctic, the Boreal Plains, and the Prairies (gold). Habitat regions: National Ecological Framework for Canada. Boundaries: Statistics Canada. Lakes: Natural Earth.

Back to Manitoba bird photography, or see the portfolio.

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