Goose Mating Rituals
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| Male Embden goose mating |
"Birdwatching is not an exact science. Sometimes you need to go back and review what you have seen and reassess bird behaviour in light of more recent observations. Such is the case here. At the start of the mating season I reported seeing what I assumed was two male geese mating one after the other with the same female. Since then it has become obvious that the second 'mating' was a ritual act by the dominant female in a threesome, to do exactly that, to establish her dominance over the second female. It has been established that goosy threesomes are, in fact, very common. In this instance there is one male with an alpha female and a beta female. This is their story.
