8.00 am. Loud deep purrings and songlike murmurings were coming from inside the hau, even before the nest was visible. Something was inspiring these new vocalizations from the female nene. She was sat as usual over the eggs, fussing a little with the sides of the nest, a feather here, a piece of grass there, then for a moment she stood up to look at them and two of the eggs had small holes in them, - one was about the size of a dime, but in a cracked, uneven way - and there were little cheeping sounds coming from within. A beak appeared momentarily outside, and then back inside again. The other hole was a little smaller, and had softer cheeps coming from inside, and a glimpse of soft downy gray movement within. These were the sounds that inspired the mother's response. She lowered herself over the eggs again, her feet either side, and continued her contented purring. It can take up to two days for a Canada goose gosling to open the egg and free itself, chipping away from inside. For some reason, there are only three eggs now. On Christmas Eve she was behaving very similarly, and I noticed an egg missing, but did not see or hear a gosling.
The male arrived about an hour ago with the second female. They were focused on each other and were mating yesterday for at least the second time. He demonstrated in front of her by stretching his head and tail, erect in the air, and then sidestepping towards her with head and neck lowered. In a short while, after feeding on grass, he walked towards the nest and she continued to graze.
It was on the 27th November that the original pair spent the first night apart. The female was constructing her nest in the hau, the male on guard by the river. Nene incubation is said to take between 29 and 31 days. She probably spent a few days preparing the nest and laying before beginning incubation.
11.00 am. The male is aware of the hatching and has begun to change his behavior. For the last two weeks he has been almost inseparable from the unbanded female we call Nahe nahe. In Hawaiian it means small and gentle, and she is a small bird, one of two sisters that were born up river last year. A lot of the time they grazed in the field or flew upriver, occasionally absent for half of the day, giving no response to his first mate’s call, to watch the nest as she fed. This morning he has been standing alone at the edge of the hau, and did not followed Nahe as usual, even when she called to him, he remained in sight of the nest. He does not chase her away, though the nesting female hisses at her if she gets too close, but he does chase the occasional rooster.
The nesting bird has adopted a different position, with wings spread more to her sides. Her whole body moves as if nudged from underneath. At one point she stood up and there was the first clear silhouette of a gray gosling, with a long thin neck swaying from side to side as it tried to stand for the first time. This video was taken about an hour later.
The male arrived about an hour ago with the second female. They were focused on each other and were mating yesterday for at least the second time. He demonstrated in front of her by stretching his head and tail, erect in the air, and then sidestepping towards her with head and neck lowered. In a short while, after feeding on grass, he walked towards the nest and she continued to graze.
It was on the 27th November that the original pair spent the first night apart. The female was constructing her nest in the hau, the male on guard by the river. Nene incubation is said to take between 29 and 31 days. She probably spent a few days preparing the nest and laying before beginning incubation.
11.00 am. The male is aware of the hatching and has begun to change his behavior. For the last two weeks he has been almost inseparable from the unbanded female we call Nahe nahe. In Hawaiian it means small and gentle, and she is a small bird, one of two sisters that were born up river last year. A lot of the time they grazed in the field or flew upriver, occasionally absent for half of the day, giving no response to his first mate’s call, to watch the nest as she fed. This morning he has been standing alone at the edge of the hau, and did not followed Nahe as usual, even when she called to him, he remained in sight of the nest. He does not chase her away, though the nesting female hisses at her if she gets too close, but he does chase the occasional rooster.
The nesting bird has adopted a different position, with wings spread more to her sides. Her whole body moves as if nudged from underneath. At one point she stood up and there was the first clear silhouette of a gray gosling, with a long thin neck swaying from side to side as it tried to stand for the first time. This video was taken about an hour later.
The nesting bird lowers herself very tentatively, probably feeling where the tiny gosling is with her feet and legs. At one point the gosling was beside the large leg band and she would not have been able to feel its movements. There were still two eggs remaining, and she has turned the other one with the hole in it. The rain is loud but the sound of the gosling's voice is just audible beneath that of the mother. There are bouts of activity between periods of rest and each time she raises herself she rotates a little more in the nest.
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