Nest empty, Goosecam shuts down

For the past seven years, the star of the Journal’s Goosecam has persevered through snow storms, attacks from rival geese, and the weeks-long endeavour of protecting her incubating eggs.

But now Patience appears to have left her nest for good.

Journal photographer Bruce Edwards, who masterminds the Goosecam project from a farm on the western edge of the city, said the goose left her nest shortly after 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday. Coincidentally, there was a problem with the livestream technology at that time and it temporarily went off the air. Soon afterward, Patience left her nest. The eggs are gone, too.

“It’s as if she said, ‘If I’m not going to be on the Internet, then I’m leaving,’” Edwards said.

“I guess the eggs must not have been viable and she knows it and left.”

Patience has regularly left her nest for about 15 minutes at a time to feed, Edwards said. But this is the first time he has seen her abandon the nest. In 2013, her first clutch of eggs were scattered and crushed during an April windstorm when gusts up to 90 km/h overturned the hay bale and nest. Weeks later, Patience chose a different straw bale on which to lay a second batch, which successfully hatched.

The Journal’s Goosecam livestreams Patience as she watches over her eggs for the 25 to 28 days it takes for her eggs to hatch. Soon after the eggs hatch, the mother goose has to move them to a pond for water. The goslings stay with the mother and father until late summer and then fly south for fall migration. The birds return to their nesting grounds the following spring.

Edwards said he has seen Patience flying around the farm. He does not know what has happened to the eggs.

The Goosecam will not be running unless Patience returns to a nest. azabjek@edmontonjournal.com Twitter: @a_zabjek