BUILDING NEW TRADITIONS 



In the Canada Goose there is not the same pioneering as in ducks, in 

 breeding situations at least. The close family and group ties hold birds to 

 given locations from which they expand slowly. Despite the existence of 

 large regions of prime goose-breeding habitat, much of this is not occupied 

 by geese. Such vacancies cannot be explained entirely in terms of ecology, 

 for where we introduce a flock of Canada Geese, such as the plantings at 

 Delta or the Lower Souris Refuge, the flocks thrive in the new locations. 

 Hawkins, Wellein, and Crissey (1950) covered a large part of the West 

 shore of the Hudson Bay in an aerial waterfowl survey during the breed- 

 ing season, and they found that "goose ranges continued without interrup- 

 tion, so far as we could tell, from Wawa Lake southwest of Moosonee to 

 Eskimo Point. Along this entire strip, however, the only place where 

 Canadas appeared to be nesting in large numbers was on Akimiski Island. 

 Otherwise, the population appeared to be widely scattered." I take it that 

 faithfulness to the breeding place and reluctance to pioneer to new regions 

 are evidence of the strength of family traditions in the Canada Goose. 



Faithful as they are to their home range, however, geese are elastic in 

 their use of migration routes and wintering quarters. Jack Miner's sanctu- 

 ary, in southern Ontario, gives the history of a new goose tradition, the 

 birds being few in the beginning and increasing in the lifetime of one man 

 to many thousands more. Such also was the modest start of goose traditions 

 at Horseshoe Lake, Illinois. "Originally, Horseshoe Lake was an Oxbow of 

 the Mississippi River, but its present location is about two miles from the 

 river channel," writes A. S. Hawkins (letter). "During floods, the river still 

 spreads over it. More recently this was a swamp, which early in the present 

 century became dry enough so that a fire burned deep holes in its bed. 

 Horseshoe Lake resulted, and today a dam holds the water at a fairly con- 

 stant level. Old-timers report that Horseshoe Lake used to offer good duck 

 hunting but not good goose shooting. For at least 50 years, Horseshoe Lake 

 Island has been farmed, although during one period, brush claimed it for 

 a few years. Probably geese have fed on Horseshoe Lake Island as long as 

 it has been farmed, but they did not use the lake until the dam was built 

 Formerly a hunting club, Horseshoe Lake became a refuge in 1927. The 

 first estimate in wintering numbers places the 1928-29 population at be- 

 tween 1,000 and 1,900 (Leopold, 1931:206); by 1953 the mid-winter inven- 

 tory of the flock showed a total of 143,000." Originally the feeding places 

 around Horseshoe Lake had no superiority over other parts of the valley. 

 When the refuge offered protected resting grounds, however, an element 



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