/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/57/81/5781961b-f3f5-40f7-bf20-bf48a9e84737/sandhill-cranes-with-gosling-3_web.jpg)
These Sandhill Cranes Have Adopted a Canada Gosling, and Birders Have Flocked to Watch the Strange Family
Ornithologists and locals wonder what the future holds for this chick being raised by much taller, but still doting parents
:focal(1000x667:1001x668)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/57/81/5781961b-f3f5-40f7-bf20-bf48a9e84737/sandhill-cranes-with-gosling-3_web.jpg)
The first time I saw the family, I did a double take. Two tall sandhill crane parents strutted through the marsh, their downy red colt toddling behind them. And then, just a few steps later, came another chick—rounder, fluffier and distinctly yellow. A Canada gosling.
In a small pond in Madison, Wisconsin, a pair of sandhill cranes is raising a baby Canada goose as their own. The combination appears to be only the third confirmed instance of such a cross-species adoption—which was observed previously in Michigan in 2019, and again just last year in Madison. However, an unusual sighting in Alaska in 2011, when a Canada goose was seen living with and behaving like a crane, suggests this kind of adoption may have happened even earlier.
These rare adoptions may be happening more often for several reasons, says Anne Lacy, director of eastern flyway programs at the International Crane Foundation. Sandhill cranes and Canada geese populations have both rebounded in recent decades and, like foxes and coyotes, have proved remarkably adept at moving into urban landscapes. That adaptability has brought them into closer proximity. Geese, which are grazers, can thrive in a wide range of developed spaces, including manicured retention ponds. Cranes, by contrast, are omnivores that still seek out wetlands with more habitat diversity. Suburban wetlands with semi-natural edges—where mowed lawns meet natural vegetation—often offer enough habitat for cranes while still supporting geese, creating an area of ecological overlap. In these shared spaces, the chances for unusual interactions are much higher. At the same time, people are paying closer attention to birds, notes Lacy, and are focusing on this pairing because it’s weird.
Exactly how the gosling ended up with the cranes remains in dispute. Some local photographers believe a Canada goose laid an egg in the cranes’ nest. Others think the cranes took over a goose nest—which already contained a goose egg—after spring floods washed out theirs. Whatever the origin, one thing is certain: When the gosling hatched, it imprinted on the cranes and now follows them as if it were one of their own.
Marjorie Rhine, a local photographer, was one of the first to witness the unusual family. While watching a nesting crane keeping a chick warm beneath its feathers, she was startled when a bright yellow gosling popped out instead of a crane colt. “It’s just hard for your brain to compute. It’s not supposed to be bright yellow,” she says. What struck her most, though, was the way the parent responded. “It just seemed really loving,” she explains.
I watched a similarly surreal and moving scene—a sleek-legged crane doting tenderly on a yellow ball of fluff tucked beside it.
Since then, photographers have captured hours of video footage and thousands of images of the unusual family. Many have watched the cranes treat the gosling just like their own colt: feeding, sheltering and defending it—even from the gosling’s presumed biological parents, a Canada goose pair that have repeatedly tried to reclaim the gosling.
Numerous observers have seen the geese approach the crane family—circling the nest, honking loudly and even charging at the cranes. But when the geese got too close, “Dad was there with his mighty wings,” says Alan Ginsberg, a local photographer who witnessed several such confrontations.
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/82/f0/82f0d82a-50c9-48d4-a24a-b1d8d3983366/sandhill_cranes_with_gosling-35.jpg)
Why the cranes accepted the gosling likely comes down to timing and hormones. Michael Ward, an ornithologist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has seen just how flexible sandhill cranes can be. He recalls one case where a pair tried to incubate a red rubber ball that had found its way into their nest. And once a chick hatches, the adults are hormonally primed to parent it. “They’re in this maternal or paternal phase, and they’re being protective and supportive,” says Ward.
While the cranes may not care that the gosling waddling after them isn’t biologically theirs, its future is far from certain. Geese and cranes differ in many ways, such as diet, behavior and migration strategies. Cranes feed their young insects, worms and the occasional small mammal. Geese are grazers, built to forage independently. “When I first heard about this last year, I had some real concerns about the gosling,” says Lacy. “They eat very different things.”
I’ve noticed some of their differences when observing them. Instead of nibbling on grass like a typical gosling, this one eagerly slurps down worms offered by its crane parents. The gosling is also a far stronger swimmer than its adoptive parents—zipping circles around them in the water—though it’s clumsier on land as it tries to match the adults’ long-legged stride.
As the gosling matures, migration could present another challenge. “There could be an issue when they become flighted,” Ward says. “Cranes fly higher and migrate at different times of the year than geese do. … By the time it’s got to migrate, something’s going to give.” Cranes often fly at around 5,000 feet—so high they’re often barely visible—while geese typically migrate between 1,000 and 3,000 feet or lower. Their timing also differs: Geese tend to begin migrating in September, if they migrate at all, while cranes from Wisconsin usually depart in October or November—after the first cold snap. Cranes also often travel longer distances to wintering grounds in the southeastern United States, while geese often remain in the Midwest. “It is possible the adopted goose would migrate with the cranes,” Ward says, but “I would expect it would have trouble physiologically.”
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/18/a6/18a6be21-8e89-48fa-912a-33406d8a7d8c/sandhill_cranes_with_gosling-42.jpg)
Whether the gosling will make it to adulthood and attempt to migrate remains an open question. While the crane parents are attentive, both of its chicks face risks. The biggest threats to young cranes—and, now, to this gosling—are land-based predators like raccoons, foxes and coyotes, particularly in the early mornings or evenings when the family is out foraging, explains Lacy. Aerial predators like great horned owls are less common, but possible. And snapping turtles, which inhabit the pond, add another threat.
Not all stories like this have happy endings. With the two previously documented adoptions, neither gosling survived. The gosling in Michigan died of unknown causes. The one in Madison last year was killed by a dog. “It was a golden retriever on one of those stretchy leashes, and it got the gosling in its mouth,” recalls Cynthia Carlson, a photographer who documented the 2024 adoption, as well as this year’s. The gosling was taken to a wildlife rescue but died shortly after. “I was so sad that we didn’t get to see how the whole situation ended up,” she says.
Despite the challenges that the gosling faces, local observers still have reasons for hope. Sandhill cranes are known for strong nest site fidelity, often defending the same territory season after season. Ralph Russo, another local photographer who has been photographing the cranes here for a long time, notes the pair at this site have successfully raised multiple offspring over the years. That experience could give both chicks a better-than-average shot, says Lacy. “Nobody likes to see baby animals not make it,” she adds. “But quite honestly, that’s the rule, not the exception.”
Ward notes that while a gosling raised by cranes may have a reduced chance of survival, death is far from the only potential outcome. “It’s not like it’s doomed to die,” he says. He also believes the gosling could rejoin its own species, a sentiment that Lacy echoes. “It may just incorporate itself into a gaggle of geese,” she notes.
How this unusual tale will end is uncertain, but Ward hopes people also appreciate the bigger picture. The eastern population of sandhill cranes—which primarily nest in Wisconsin, Michigan and Ontario—has rebounded from fewer than 20,000 birds in 1979 to around 110,000 in 2023 thanks to habitat protection and regulated hunting. Canada geese have experienced a similarly remarkable recovery, increasing from 1.26 million in 1970 to around seven million today. “Fifty years ago, neither species was around here,” Ward explains. “Conservation has brought both of these species back.”
Each time I visit the pond, I find myself lingering longer than planned, watching the family alongside other photographers, birders and curious onlookers. Each visitor may take away something different, but Russo’s words resonate with me: “It reminds me of the pleasure of just being in nature and being surprised by what nature can do,” he says. “It’s been wonderful and joyful and fascinating to witness.”