​​​​​Over the past 4-5 years there has been a pair of Canada geese who decided that the roof over the Building 10 library is their special “home" to return to annually. They lay their eggs there and intend to raise their goslings (baby geese) on the over 10-foot-high roof. Unfortunately, as you can see from the pictures, the roof is not a very inviting place to raise your young since it has no access to water and is lacking shade for most of the day. To add to this ill-suited location, Canada Goose goslings fledge (leave the nest) when they are still unable to fly, and the goslings are forced to plummet 10 feet below onto the concrete walkway when it is time for them to fledge. Dr. Brenda Klaunberg (NINDS) was the veterinarian on-call the day the Wildlife Veterinary Volunteers Group (WVV) at NIH received notification that the goslings had hatched. She notified the rest of the WVV members via e-mail. The WVV is the group that responds to calls about injured or distressed wildlife on the Bethesda and Poolesville campuses. Dr. Tannia Clark (NHGRI) and Dr. Lyn Colenda (Division of Veterinary Resources) responded to the e-mail since Dr. Klaunberg was off-site that day.​

Drs. Clark and Colenda contacted the Office of Research Facilities who gave them access to the roof via internal stairs in the building. This allowed them to bypass the “ladder option" up onto the roof used in the past. Dr. Clark rounded up the baby geese and gently placed them in a soft bag while Dr. Colenda shooed the belligerent parents away. The babies were then taken outside and placed in a cardboard box with some fresh grass on the terrace below the nest. The parents were disoriented at first and stayed on the roof looking for the goslings. Dr. Colenda went back on the roof and persuaded them to go to the edge where they could see and hear their goslings calling to them. The parents flew down and followed Dr. Clark and the box of baby geese to the south lawn where the family was reunited. Within minutes the whole family was happily grazing on the lush grass. They slowly started walking down the hill to find a new, more appropriate home to live.

Spring and early summer are an especially busy time for the WVV due to the large number of baby birds that either fall out of their nests or are fledging. The fledglings' parents continue to watch over them and ensure they are getting food and shelter in the first days after they have left the nest.  It is very important to not pick up or disturb the young birds at this time or the parents may abandon their offspring. The WVV wants to remind everyone that we want to “Keep the Wildlife Wild" on NIH campuses while making sure that truly injured animals are cared for. If you see any animal, no matter what species, that appears to be injured, distressed, or acting aggressive, please call the NIH Police Non-Emergency number 301-496-5685. The NIH operator will call the WVV veterinarian on duty to address the problem. The more information you can provide about the exact location of the animal, time found and activity of the animal, the better the team will be able to respond to the emergency wildlife issue.

By,

Lyn Colenda, DVM​​