I had two families of greylag geese on my lake, one more advanced than the other. The older family of six siblings suddenly disappeared, except for two young who very quickly attached themselves to the other family of greylags which has three much younger goslings. The parents were a bit suspicious at first but they have now accepted the 'orphans' and they are all together all the time. Is this unusual behaviour?
And here's the family.
Ignatia
It is fairly unusual but it does happen sometimes. Parentless goslings would always try to seek out the care of other adults to help protect them from predators, but it's not always the case that the adults would accept them.
Apparently parents are more likely to accept interlopers when their own chicks are very young. It seems to me that the adults don't want to risk leaving their own vulnerable small chicks undefended, which would happen if they spent too much time trying to chase off the intruders. It's safer for their own babies to just allow the newcomers to join the family!
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Thanks for that information. I suspect you are right about the parents accepting interlopers when their young are small. The 'teenagers' can act as baby sitters, although I'm wondering what will happen when they are ready to fly.
Unfortunately I followed a link which has cut me off from your thread. I can't get my head round this site as yet. I don't know how to cancel the action I took. Sorry.