2024 - May - Goose meeting on the Main

If you want to see goslings up close, you should take a trip to Frankfurt am Main in May.

They feel particularly at home on the banks of the Main, with its wide strips of meadows. But you can also find the various species of geese in the many parks, which often have a small pond.

However, not every pair breeds and of the 4-6 chicks per clutch, sometimes only one survives. Too often, the little ones fall victim to foxes or dogs.

It is therefore not surprising that the goose parents react particularly aggressively to dogs running around freely. People, on the other hand, are usually tolerated, even if the parents occasionally hiss if you get too close to them.

Sometimes you can also see fights between geese. Egyptian geese in particular chase away other geese when they see them flying towards them from the air. They then run with their wings spread and calling loudly in the direction of the "intruder" until the latter gives up and turns away.

Speaking of Egyptian geese: Did you know that they are classed as semi-geese? They are basically an intermediate species between ducks and geese. They also occur on the Nile, but are not so common there anymore. The animals living here are not immigrants, however, but are probably descendants of escaped zoo animals.

The Canada geese, which are even more common here, are also not originally native to this area, but were originally settled in Great Britain and Sweden, from where they then came to us.

The third species of goose living in Frankfurt is the greylag goose, which is actually native here and is the wild predecessor of our domestic goose.

All three variants are popular with us city dwellers to varying degrees. Of course, many are bothered by the numerous droppings they leave behind. Officials also try to stop them from breeding by planting hedges. If geese do not have unrestricted access to water and thus an escape route for their chicks, they often do not breed.

By the way, all geese leave the many daisies (despite the supposed similarity in name) and only eat the greenery around them.

We certainly had fun watching the animals. They also coped much better with the heavy rain we had during our stay in Frankfurt than we did.

Every free minute when it wasn't raining, we enjoyed walking along the Main or, as we jokingly said, we'll go to the Nile to visit the geese.