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Hi David,
Despite the fact that the evidence is
circumstantial there is a good case to put that they bred locally. The
evidence is:
the local flock of 30 or so birds vacated their
long-term usual roost site;
an equivalent number were seen after that in the
Coldstream in pairs or small groups;
an equivalent number of adults returned to the
usual roost site accompanied by juvenile, not immature,
birds.
juveniles were heard calling in the Coldstream
before the flock turned up at Waterview;
No geese have been seen in the Coldstream since the
adults and juveniles arrived at Waterview.
As indicated in your email, access to the
Coldstream sites was not possible due to them being private property and also
inundated so therefore observations were made from some distance making the
detection of nests virtually impossible;
There is no evidence that they have migrated from
Queensland;
I am not aware of any breeding in southern
Queensland in recent years (although this is possible).
Russell Jago, Warren Thompson and myself all agree
that there is a strong case for local breeding, albeit not proven beyond
doubt. I believe that the record should be treated as 'probable
breeding'.
Some years ago a number of immature geese arrived
in the local area, but as these were much older than the juveniles observed last
year, I considered that they may have flown in from up north. However they
may have been bred locally.
Regards
Greg
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