Now is the time of year we see animal babies appearing throughout the midwest. Lots of baby geese, ducks, and swans are starting to turn up. The Canada geese generally expect to have the right of way on roads, so please watch out for them when you are driving. The parents dutifully watch over their young. Usually one adult will be in front, then the babies will follow, and then another adult will pull up the rear. The duck babies also stay close to mom, as well they should since predators are always on the lookout for an easy meal. The really young ones are positively adorable. They are not only small, but have soft baby fur.
With so many babies coming along, the foxes and raccoons will soon follow. The foxes tend to hunt in the dark of night. For the birds, there is safety in numbers. They often stay together in the ponds at night. They will quack and honk in earnest if they notice anyone intruding on their space. They don’t worry so much in the daytime, but are definitely more alert at night when predators are more active. You may have heard that a bird cage cover will help a bird to feel more comfortable, but that is not so much because of the dark but because that way they can’t see anyone (or anything) approaching.
We also have many swans in Ohio and Michigan. We’ll also be getting baby swans, called cygnets, this spring. These babies have an advantage: their parents are much bigger than the ducks and geese and make full use of their size to protect their young.
Many folks are tempted to feed the waterfowl. You can do this, but should be careful not to feed them anything that might be bad for them. Lots of folks see people feeding bread or cookies to birds and assume this is safe for them, but actually these are not good foods for the birds. Cereal isn’t a good food for them, either. Have you ever seen the swans dipping underwater and wondered what they were after? They normally eat plants and algae, and will occasionally eat grass along the shore. They’ll also eat insects – yum!
While ducks, swans, and geese can often be tame they aren’t totally friendly and domesticated like dogs or cats so respect them as wild animals. There is a reason you don’t see a lot of crate training tips for swans.