Goose Mom and Chicks

 

This shot was taken with my IPhone at C&O canal, so you know I was pretty close.  

 

This pair of Canada Geese actually had six chicks, spread out in two groups of three, perhaps nature's way of reducing the chance of mortality from a single-event run-in with a stray cat, dog or fox.

 

Baby geese, fox kits, and fawns are likely to be dead within three months of being born -- such is the natural mortality of most wildlife. 

 

If two geese have six chicks every year, at least six of the eight have to die every year (including the parents) to maintain population stability.  The only question in such matters is how the death occurs, and in what season. 

 

Though most hunting takes place in the fall and in the winter, it's actually Spring that is the cruel season.

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