Consecutive November nesting attempts by a wild Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) at 49.9°N latitude

We report on a wild Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) that laid and incubated 6 eggs in November 2016 and 2017 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. When the eggs were removed from the 2016 nest on 5 December, 5 were found to be undeveloped; the sixth egg contained a developed embryo that we believe would h...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Wilson journal of ornithology 2018-12, Vol.130 (4), p.1047-1051
Main Authors: Baldwin, Frank B., Leafloor, James O.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal behavior
Animal embryos
Aquatic birds
bernaches du Canada
Branta
Canada geese
Climate change
Containers
Ecology
Eggs
Embryos
Females
Geese
gonadal recrudescence
Gonads
Incubation
Incubation period
Interactions
Molting
nest
Nesting
nid
Ornithology
photoperiod
photopériode
recrudescence gonadique
Reproduction
SHORT COMMUNICATIONS
Sperm
Spermatozoa
Storage
Waterfowl
Wildfowl
Wildlife management
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Summary:We report on a wild Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) that laid and incubated 6 eggs in November 2016 and 2017 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. When the eggs were removed from the 2016 nest on 5 December, 5 were found to be undeveloped; the sixth egg contained a developed embryo that we believe would have hatched within 7–10 d. The viable egg in 2016 was not likely a result of sperm storage by the female, so we concluded that a gander must have also undergone gonadal recrudescence at that time. The same female (as identified by her uniquely coded leg band) was found incubating 6 eggs in the same nest bowl in November 2017, but we are uncertain whether any of the eggs were viable because it was likely too early in incubation for visible development of embryos to have occurred. In both years, mean daily temperatures at the time of rapid follicle development were 2.8 and 13.5 °C higher than the previous 10-year average. The relative contributions of endocrine and environmental cues and how they interact remain poorly understood in waterfowl reproduction, but the ability to develop functional gonads in consecutive autumns and produce a viable embryo after undergoing remigial molt, and presumably photorefactoriness, represents the most extreme documented example of a miscue in gonadal recrudescence in wild North American waterfowl.
ISSN:1559-4491
1938-5447
DOI:10.1676/1559-4491.130.4.1047