Big flocks of geese this time of year?

What is with the large flocks of canadian geese around??
This morning I saw another flock of probably 50-60 geese, I don’t recall seeing so many large flocks(30+ birs) of geese this time of year in the past.
I have been seeing goslings around for a few weeks already, shouldn’t these birds be paired up and at least nesting if not with goslings at this point.

I noticed that too JB. Lots of 20+ bird flocks sitting in the fields with no babies. I can only assume they are young birds that didn’t breed this season?

Must be the ones that went through rochester this week. i saw 3 big V’s headed straight north and they were booking right along.

I’ve been wondering why I have seen goslings for over a month but only 1 set of ducklings. Did their nests get flooded? Or do they not go at the same time.
DT

There is usually a gap. The geese are typically 2-4 weeks ahead.

I see there is a second wave of goslings. We have some that are 3/4 size and some that are very small. Where are the duckilings.
DT

Good question. Most of our goslings here are very big. Still no ducklings though.

This is the bachelor males (usually young from the last two years) that don’t have a lady. No need for them to head north as early as the breeding pairs.

I do believe it takes a goose a few years to reach maturity and these are last years hatch that arent able to bread yet. At least thats whay ive been told before

I saw my first two groups of baby ducks in the last 24 hours. One group was as big as Mama. The others were pretty small. Overall, I just don’t know if the ducks had a very successful spring in the NW metro.

I’ve also noticed a lot of groups of 10-12 birds hanging out in the fields with no nesting pairs. Maybe its normal, but I don’t ever remember seeing groups like this in the spring. I’m also surprised that I haven’t seen more ducklings. I run near the waste water treatment ponds in Rogers as well as a few ponds and I’ve only seen one group. I can think of 5-6 pairs that I saw on a regular basis and they are still around, but no ducklings. I did see Mom and 12 ducklings last Tuesday walking through the Dickey’s Barbecue Pit parking lot, so maybe they are just hiding out in odd places.