The Geese in Dublin..?

Fittle

I'm sure there's a thread on this somewhere, but I haven't been able to find it - I know I read an article in a local newspaper a few years ago, but again, no joy locating that.

So myself and the 9yr old continue to be fascinated on our way to school every morning, with the Geese that appear every year on two of our local football pitches. I know there's a story about them, and I'd love to tell him why they come back to Dublin every year, and where they go when they leave. I'd also love to tell him what happens to them on a Saturday or Sunday morning, when there are matches on the pitches as he constantly asks me where they go at weekends..

Any info would be great, thanks:)

LostCovey

Fittle wrote: »

I'm sure there's a thread on this somewhere, but I haven't been able to find it - I know I read an article in a local newspaper a few years ago, but again, no joy locating that.

So myself and the 9yr old continue to be fascinated on our way to school every morning, with the Geese that appear every year on two of our local football pitches. I know there's a story about them, and I'd love to tell him why they come back to Dublin every year, and where they go when they leave. I'd also love to tell him what happens to them on a Saturday or Sunday morning, when there are matches on the pitches as he constantly asks me where they go at weekends..

Any info would be great, thanks:)

Hi,

They are Light-bellied Brent Geese, which breed in Arctic Canada, and winter here.

There is lots of information about them here http://www.irishbrentgoose.org/about_brent_geese.html for example.

LC

Fittle

Thanks for that LostCovey. I had read some of that site, but as I'm not a regular 'bird watcher' to be honest, I didn't understand some of the language I'm afraid. Is there anything that would explain their migration to Ireland to a 9yr old..for example, the questions he asks are usually;

1. Why do they pick Dublin (I am assuming it's the temperature?)
2. Why do they stay in the same fields day in, day out (i.e., have they figured out there are loads of worms in one particular field?)
3. Where do they go at weekends when there are football matches on (we pass by them at about 9am each weekday morning - on a weekend morning, they are gone from the pitches at that time...where have they gone?)

And so on...

I know I read a really good story on them years ago, that would explain all of the above, but I can't find it online.

Thanks again!

swifts need our help!

1. Why do they pick Dublin (I am assuming it's the temperature?)

They come to Ireland because where they breed is frozen solid over the winter. They dont just come to Dublin, 30,000 or is 3,000 are in Strangford Lough

2. Why do they stay in the same fields day in, day out (i.e., have they figured out there are loads of worms in one particular field?)

They should be eating eel grass which grows under the sea and is exposed at low tide. Eating grass isnt good for them because it lacks good nutrients. It's usually this years young that take the adults to grass. Because of the poor diet they will not have the energy to breed next year

3. Where do they go at weekends when there are football matches on (we pass by them at about 9am each weekday morning - on a weekend morning, they are gone from the pitches at that time...where have they gone?)

Back to the shore probably

Fittle

That's very helpful, thanks:D

The two fields we see them in also have lakes running through them - when it's really wet, both pitches get water-logged and matches are cancelled, so I imagine they are quite wet. So are they eating the grass there? We thought they were eating worms!

swifts need our help!

Definitely grass

Mark

Fittle

Last question - could we feed them ourselves? We often feed the ducks out in Portmarnock that gather in the grass there...could we do the same with these Geese? He's dying to get closer to them;)

swifts need our help!

These are true wild geese. You will be close enough but once they get scared they'll fly off. They'll not come for bread.

MB Lacey

Fittle wrote: »

Last question - could we feed them ourselves? We often feed the ducks out in Portmarnock that gather in the grass there...could we do the same with these Geese? He's dying to get closer to them;)

Hey Fittle, I think it's really cool you're showing such an interest in the Brent Geese and want to pass on knowledge to your son!!

As above posters have said you're looking at pale bellied Brent Geese (there are some that have really dark bellies - so they're called Dark Bellied Brent Geese and actually come from Siberia!).
Most of the Brent Geese that winter in Ireland are Pale Bellieds though and they start their lives in arctic North Canada (google map Ellesmere Island for example).
When they're ready (usually at the start of September) they make the flight over to Ireland (sometimes stopping in SW Iceland) and eventually all land at Strangford Loch up in Northern Ireland.
This year there were some 45,000 Brent which arrived - which is a near record number.
They seemed to make their way down and arrive in Dublin on Sept 14th this year, which is about the same as last year (first few were spotted at Merrion Gates, Sandymount).

After a few days all the Brent disperse around various bays in Ireland and get stuck into eating the eel grass and sea algae found on Ireland's shores.
Its thought that once all the eel grass has all been eaten, the geese tend to fly inland and make do with eating normal grass.

They have lots of different feeding areas sorted out, so you can tell your son that when there are GAA/soccer matches on at the wknd , the geese fly off to other inland sites and keep feeding.
They will use their favourite feeding sites for most of the time, but if they're disturbed they'll fly off to other nearby patches off grass.

Brent Geese have been seen feeding in the middle of cycle tracks, convent gardens and in the middle of big roundabouts in Crumlin!

In March/April the urge to breed kicks in and they leave Ireland to fly back to North Canada (usually stopping off in Iceland to feed a bit more and catch their breath!) then once they've successfully bred in Canada they return to Ireland for the winter (you're right in guessing they come back here because of the warmer winter climate) and the whole cycle starts again.

As another poster already said, Brent Geese are wild and easily spooked if you get too close and you're not likely to get close enough to feed them I'm afraid.
The most helpful thing you can do is actually not get too close so they can keep on feeding.
They're lovely birds and Dublin should be proud to home approx 10,000 of these arctic breeding birds.

What you could try to do with your son is see if he can spot any plastic tags on the Brents legs - I'm not suggesting you start reading and reporting these tags (but if you'd like to start go back to the website you were originally looking at and email your sightings!), but it would be something to hold his interest maybe.
Also get him to notice the ones with white stripes on their backs - they're the young geese born this year, adults just have a plain black back.

Oh, something else you can tell their son is where they sleep - they sleep mostly on the saltmarshes around Bull Island/ Clontarf and that's where they fly from each morning and back to each night when it starts to get too dark for them to see anymore.

Hope this helps a little - If you google Brent Geese Dublin you'll discover lots more information about them

Fittle

Thank you SO much for that MB Lacey! I'll read all of this out to him tonight when we're home. We are both fascinated by them this year, as there definitely seem to be more than last year! There's also a Heron who sits on a goalpost and just looks at them every morning, this same heron (well, I think it's the same one, as there's only every ONE!) tends to be on the goalpost even when there are only seagulls at the pitch, but there he was this morning, just looking at the geese..

Over the years, I have probably spent thousands on trying to entertain my lad with play centres, the cinema etc etc...but hand on heart, the most pleasure we both get is watching or feeding birds...and its free....:D

santasbird

There is a large gathering of brent geese every year in my locality. I really enjoy watching them. I think its great that your boy has become interested in birdwatching. Maybe santa could bring him binoculars and this would help him to see them up close.:)

littlebug

Hi Fittle,

Not goose specific but rspb website has a good kids section if your little lad is interested in that kind of thing. It has some great educational games. Avian resurrection is my my sons favourite :cool:

There are also some great resources on nature detectives website
Enjoy. I have learned loads from teaching my kids stuff

suzzi

love watching the "lads" fly over clontarf every year.....the you know it's REALLY christmas!......:)

Fittle

santasbird wrote: »

There is a large gathering of brent geese every year in my locality. I really enjoy watching them. I think its great that your boy has become interested in birdwatching. Maybe santa could bring him binoculars and this would help him to see them up close.:)

Great idea:D

krankykitty

Such an interesting thread, thanks for all the info! Love geese, they are amazing creatures.

Fittle, there used to be a section on the BBC website "Supergoose" which tracked a particular flock of brent geese and reported back about where they where and what they were up to. It doesn't seem to be there any more so perhaps it's over, but if I remember correctly they were doing a programme about them. Maybe that's available somewhere?

Fittle

I think it was because it was so dark this morning, but the geese weren't there when we were passing. I pulled in for a few minutes, and he spotted them flying in from Clontarf...we hung around and saw the landing!! Hadn't seen that before and he/we just loved it!! He was late for school, but it was worth it;)

Must see if I can find that programme, thanks krankykitty (great username!).

Fittle

I just thought I'd bump this to thank you all for your input to this thread - Santa bought binoculars for the little fella and we've seen some tags and logged them on that website:D

Yesterday, in St Anns park in Raheny we spotted thousands (no exaggeration) of the geese on one of the football pitches. The noise they were making was incredible - we'd never seen so many before!! Anyhow, a couple of young kids on bicycles came through the park with the obvious aim of scaring them so that they'd fly away.

I can honestly say, I have never seen a sight like it!!! Myself and my son stood, mouths agape looking and listening as thousands of the geese flew off in the direction of Clontarf. From the noise of their wings, to the noises they were making, to looking to see who was leading who in flight and so on...it was like a scene from a David Attenborough documentary!! Amazing!!

The geese have kept us so interested in birds over the christmas and during the (normally dull!) January...he keeps hoping some of them will land in our back garden so we can get a closer look at them;)

Anyway, how long have they got left in Dublin?? We'll be sad to see them go...when I think of the money I've spent over the years trying to entertain this 9yr old (cinema, play centres and so on), and the most pleasure he's gotten from anything to date are definitely the geese this year - so thanks again

santasbird

Im delighted your son is enjoying the birds. Its a lovely interest to have. Im still a novice at identifying birds but still enjoy watching them. My children bought me a camera for christmas and Ive been putting it to good use snapping birds in my garden and at the park.

I think the geese usually leave middle to the end of March, maybe somebody with more knowledge will say for sure.

googsy

Love seeing these geese.... keeping all the grass in the football pitches short and well manured !... I've seen a few hundred of them at most in the air... must be an amazing sight to see thousands !!

ThunderCat

I see plenty of them on Laytown beach each morning. Seems that the tide and the rock pools provide plenty of food for them as they don't ever seem in a hurry to leave. In fact the rockpools appear to be their first port of call before checking out what the tide is bringing in. Magnificent creatures.
To the lady who's son is facinated by them - when they do leave us in March you can maybe get out the Atlas and show him the huge journey they undertake back to Canada via Western Iceland.
Also, am I right in saying that one of the Earthflight episodes featured the Light Bellied Brent Geese? Can't rightly remember.

Fittle

ThunderCat wrote: »

To the lady who's son is facinated by them - when they do leave us in March you can maybe get out the Atlas and show him the huge journey they undertake back to Canada via Western Iceland.

We've done that many times...gone are the days of an Atlas though, it's googlemaps all the way:D He can use it better than me, of course;)