Crowded Northern California Beach

[Photo by Mark McKenna]Geese at LUFFENHOLTZ beach near Trinidad

Geese at Luffenholtz Beach near Trinidad. [Photo by Mark McKenna]

Since there were scenes of crowds at Southern California beaches this last weekend, we thought we’d show a family of Canadian geese touristing near Trinidad in Northern California.

Note: One local say these folks aren’t tourists but live here year round. (Let that be a lesson in making assumptions about who is local or who isn’t based on species!)

According to the Northcoast Marine Mammal Center and the Humboldt Wildlife Care Center, these are Canadian geese as Aleutian Geese don’t breed around here. We understand from them that though they have their babies here in the spring very few stick around all year.

Robert Merrick from the Humboldt Wildlife Care Center told us,

Each year multiple Canada Goose families choose the stretch of beach from College Cove to Moonstone to raise their families… in most years, dogs, people etc wreak havoc on the goose families, and sometimes we have to go re-unite a gosling or two with their parents. Still its perfectly withing the laws of nature for them to nest there, even though I personally wish they’d choose someplace safer. To clarify on species, Aleutian Cackling Geese only winter here. Many Canada Geese also winter here , and surely some are year-round residents, and some winter elsewhere and only come to our region for nesting season…I havent seen any Aleutians in our area in over a week… the latest Ive seen them here is May 5… we have a Cackling goose in care right now, who has been with us since April 13 and will be forced to Summer in Humboldt since her gang has already split the scene…

(Note: an earlier version of this post said they might be Aleutian Cackling geese but we now know they aren’t.)

For more cool photos, follow Photog_Mark on Instagram.

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Shaka
Guest
Shaka
3 years ago

🤣😂🤣😂🤣

Mike
Guest
Mike
3 years ago

Well done, well done.

Dan F
Guest
Dan F
3 years ago

Honkers & Fluff Balls what a great sight!!!

Rod Gass
Guest
Rod Gass
3 years ago

Thank You.

Alf
Guest
Alf
3 years ago

My kind of crowd!

Notheone
Guest
Notheone
3 years ago

Good one. Thanks Kym.

Jo
Guest
Jo
3 years ago

Love Humboldt 💜💜💜

The Hatch Act
Guest
The Hatch Act
3 years ago

They’re Canadians.
Homeschooling field trip.
They aren’t worried about catching the corona virus.
They have diplomatic immunity.

Buzzkill
Guest
Buzzkill
3 years ago

Sorry, those are western Canada geese, not Aleutian Cackling geese. They are called Aleutian because they nest on the Aleutian Islands. Also western Canada geese are much larger and don’t have the white ring around the neck.

Buster
Guest
Buster
3 years ago

Too bad that they are local. I was going to give them a break for unsafe social distancing because they are foreigners. Being locals, they should know better…shame, shame!

Mobius Dancer
Guest
Mobius Dancer
3 years ago
Reply to  Buster

A single family unit doesn’t require the same sort of distancing as individuals visiting separately. They live together, travel together.
I was slightly disturbed that they didn’t wear masks…

Buster
Guest
Buster
3 years ago
Reply to  Mobius Dancer

Good point.
Mom and Dad should be wearing masks but the children appear to be under two years of age so technically they’re ok.
😷

hmm
Guest
hmm
3 years ago

Please be sure to show us the crowds on local beaches now that the sheriff has undermined shelter in place protocols. I suspect we will see a flood of people. Btw we have seen people failing to follow social distancing protocols on our beaches. Of course Luffenholtz is normally pretty empty though.

itsonlymoneys
Guest
itsonlymoneys
3 years ago
Reply to  hmm

We couldn’t have one light-hearted thread featuring the local beauty and wildlife??

Martin
Guest
Martin
3 years ago
Reply to  hmm

hmm, contact Sheriff Honsal via his email and tell him how you feel regarding open beaches. You can find his email in the Humboldt County website.

Stormson the Druid
Guest
Stormson the Druid
3 years ago

When Sheriff Billy actually protects the beaches against bonfires, dogs, horses, goons on 4×4’s and other destructive nuisances, I will agree with him.

Ceya Darwin
Guest
Ceya Darwin
3 years ago

That reminds me, bonfire at the beach is a great idea! We could all have fires 6 feet apart! If someone wants to get a little domestic with me we can skip the six feet!

Buster
Guest
Buster
3 years ago
Reply to  Ceya Darwin

Well that got weird fast. Not really sure where you stand on beach freedoms.

C Armstrong
Guest
C Armstrong
3 years ago

What awesome photos. Great job!

For sure
Guest
For sure
3 years ago

We have a pair on the Eel River in SoHum. Also a pair of Mallards… Both aren’t the usual, but beautiful .

Mr. and Mrs. Goose
Guest
Mr. and Mrs. Goose
3 years ago

We are Canada Geese. Aleutian Cackling Geese raise their families in the Aleutian Islands.

We are following social distancing guidelines by sheltering in place in our home. We have raised our family of goslings on Luffenholtz beach for several years now. It’s a great place as long as humans and dogs don’t chase us.

Please help protect us and other wildlife by keeping your dogs leashed while on beaches and giving us plenty of space!

If you see an injured or orphaned wild animal call Humboldt Wildlife Care Center 707 822 8839. Or for marine mammals call Northcoast Marine Mammal Center 707 951 4722

Wabbajack
Guest
Wabbajack
3 years ago

If you can see another human on one of our beaches, it is crowded.

Brian
Guest
Brian
3 years ago

If these geese think they are somehow immune from the bilirubin, they are obviously harboring Aleutians of gander.😁

Buster
Guest
Buster
3 years ago
Reply to  Brian

Yes, they are definitely daleutianal.

Colleen Sands
Guest
Colleen Sands
3 years ago

HEY! Those are my birds! Moved to Canada after nearly 40 years in Eureka. Most take off, and some stay here. I think they need to come home if the border opens. 😁

Martin
Guest
Martin
3 years ago

The geese drink Corona which makes them virus proof so they can gather in groups closer than six feet.

Fortunian
Guest
Fortunian
3 years ago

I went to one of our local beaches on Sunday. Seeing families and people with their dogs playing in the water was very comforting to me. I talked to a few of the people while our dogs played. Everyone was pretty much following the social distance. I don’t understand why people are upset with this. Don’t you want to get back to normality? It was probably the best thing everyone did for their wellbeing.

wurking stiff
Guest
wurking stiff
3 years ago
Reply to  Fortunian

Yes- getting to normal is what everyone wants, but wishful thinking doesn’t cut it to prevent ongoing outbreaks following us into the fall, racking up the body count into a highly likely second wave in the fall. Avoiding this end is success at this point.
I don’t know what you witnessed or participated in at the beach, and perhaps “pretty much following the social distance” may well have been sufficient to protect everyone from spreading the disease. In fact, we WILL all adapt and learn new ways of doing things until a vaccine &/or reliable therapeutics are available.
My point is that “getting back to normal” is the wrong goal at this stage!
The right goal for now should be getting as many of our people through this crisis as possible while meeting the fundamental needs of we the people.
It’s an order of operations issue!

Susan Jones
Guest
Susan Jones
3 years ago

Great pictures…great story! Thanks 🙂