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late April 2019
Salish Sea, Pacific Northwest
There have been seasonal changes in my neighborhood since early April, including some drama at the beach. Last week we had some minus tides in the afternoon so I thought that would be a good opportunity to check out the wildflowers on a small islet just offshore. Below a 0’ tide you can walk out to the islet for a brief time.
The 8-10 Canada geese at this bay were honking continuously as I walked down the beach — not surprising since they do that if they see you approaching at any distance. I crossed the narrow strip of seaweedy sand and climbed up onto the islet, immediately rewarded with a carpet of chocolate lilies. Had to watch my step there were so many.
Chocolate lilies (Fritillaria affinis. biology.burke.washington.edu/...) don’t show up brightly as other wildflowers do. There are 20-30 of them in this picture:
But a close look at these lilies reveals a subtle streaking of brown and gold. Every chocolate lily’s color pattern is unique. A peek inside the six tepals shows that color pattern more vividly, a nest for their bright yellow anthers and three-part stigma.
The bulbs of these native perennials were used by local Straits Salish Indians for food. Another name for chocolate lilies is Rice Root.
Ethnobotanic: The bulbs of chocolate lily were eaten by most Coast and Interior Salish peoples, either boiled or steamed in pits. Chocolate lily, also called “rice root” by Indian people, has bulblets that look like grains of rice. The bulbs grow relatively close to the surface and are easily extracted. Bulbs were dug in spring (before flowering) or in summer or fall (after flowering) using a digging stick, a wooden spade, or the fingers. Chocolate lily bulbs were cooked immediately, or could be partially dried, then stored in a cool place for winter use. They were cooked for about 30 minutes in a cedarwood box, by boiling for a short time then mashing to a paste, or occasionally, by baking in ashes. Chocolate lily bulbs were used as an item of trade.
USDA plants.usda.gov/...
I have no intention of digging these up for food, although with all the goose poop from Canada geese roosting up here throughout the year, the shallow soil is undoubtedly fertile and the lilies nutritious.
Coming around the corner of the islet to the far side I stumbled upon a nest of eggs! No wonder the geese had been squawking. No geese were on the nest, but one pair was swimming below. I didn’t notice them flying off the islet while I was at the beach, but perhaps they’d been keeping an eye on the nest.
I immediately retreated off the islet. Walked down the beach a ways and watched for a while.
All the geese in the bay were in pairs. Canada geese have long-term mates, and in spring pairs peel off from the big winter flocks. It wasn’t really clear which pair was the parents, as they all paddled around the bay and islet, and none went up to the nest. Some munched seaweed, some groomed. The cacophony gradually died down.
Goose incubation takes about four weeks, with the female building and sitting on the eggs. Her mate is nearby. He generally joins her during recesses but sometimes stays to guard the nest (birdsna.org/...). A study conducted in Central California found nests were left unattended for varying periods during incubation so females could go feed, bathe and groom, but not randomly. The timing of the “recesses” is based on the biology of embryo metabolism.
Timing, frequency, and length of incubation recesses taken by Canada Geese suggest that female behavior is adapted to facilitate egg development. Recesses were taken more often in the afternoon than in the morning and were rarely taken at night. Because ambient temperatures are generally highest in the afternoon, this behavior would minimize cooling of eggs. Females were also less attentive during the later stages of incubation, which coincided with increasing daily mean temperature and embryo thermogenesis.
Embryonic heat production may influence the timing of recesses within the incubation period. As incubation proceeds,an embryo generates increasing amounts of metabolic heat. The heat produced near the end of incubation represents a significant proportion of heat required for egg development (Drent 1970).
- Incubation Behavior sora.unm.edu/...
My encounter was in the afternoon of a fairly warm day. If incubation is far along, the nest may be safely left for a while. The parents would be among the geese I saw paddling in the bay among the few lingering ducks, foraging in seaweed and eelgrass.
One pair of geese ambled up to the narrowing spit by the islet. Cacophony started up again as another pair thundered across the bay toward them, driving them away. These might have been the parental geese, who are known to be territorial during nesting season.
In spite of the noise and posturing I got the impression all the geese seemed to have a clear sense of who and where everyone was, for the most part coexisting with each other and occasional hoomans without too much drama. No real sense of urgency, even if they get into honk-fests now and then for reasons opaque to me. After a while the incoming tide covered the little sand spit and the islet was surrounded by water once again, as it is most of the time. However it’s not far from the beach and there are plenty of predators who’d relish goose eggs. Mink and raccoons are common here by land, ravens and gulls even more so by air. Goslings are also popular prey, and invariably a goose family gets smaller as time goes, by based on what I’ve seen, until the goslings are large and feathered.
Returning to the bay the next day I saw at least one possibly two geese behind the rise of the islet, likely at the nest. So, all good, parents back on duty.
A couple of days ago I checked again. The tide was higher. You can see how it’s more typically an island, if tiny. The vegetation distinguishes it from being a “rock”.
As I watched, two other geese paddled along the base of the islet from different directions. There was desultory honking between them. I was curious whether one was the nest gander, and if so how it would react to an interloper.
To my surprise, one and then the other climbed up onto the islet, ambling along grazing, seemingly paying no attention to the goose up top. She (I assume) watched them both intently but did not call out or move from her spot. The others settled into foraging and then rested together on the seaward point. A mystery! Was neither of them the mate of the nesting goose, and if so, why wasn’t she concerned about them? and where was her mate, who would be protecting the nest? Might there even be a second nest I didn’t see the other day?? With two pairs of geese nesting at close quarters?
But perhaps it’s simpler than that. Yesterday there were two geese definitely at the nest, and 8 others (at least) variously wandering around the islet or roosting quietly, with others in the water nearby. Two geese chased another pair, everyone honking. The nesting geese just looked on. I suspect the local Canada goose population just continues to use the islet as they do the rest of the year, and the breeding pair has had to come to terms with the crowd waxing and waning around their nest. I’ll continue to keep watch at a distance. Curious to see when and how many goslings emerge. Six eggs —> ?
In any case I’ll wait for a while before going back out onto the islet to see the next set of blooming wildflowers. Some pink color is visible out there already through my zoom lens....
🐣
Sunny and dry in the Pacific Northwest. Low temp overnight 50°, climbing into the mid 60s in the daytime. Warm weather!
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