Ben Lavin's webcam trained on mother goose and 5 eggs

An Edmonton man may soon be gawking at a gaggle of goslings on the balcony of his tenth-floor apartment.

The mother goose first showed up on Benjamin Lavin's balcony about a week ago.

"I was just out on my balcony and there was a goose there, staring at me. I decided to take some pictures, but then kind of shoo her away. I wanted to use my balcony," he said.

But then she returned. And returned again.

A couple of days later, he spotted some eggs laid in his tomato planter. Five eggs, to be precise.

Lavin — a systems analyst at the University of Alberta — was quick to set up a webcam to capture the the little family's progress.

Other than that, he's tried to give the goose as much space and privacy as possible, closing his blinds since the mother would hiss when she saw him move inside his apartment.

"For the most part, I'm inside and she's outside."

As far as he can tell, Lavin says the nesting process seems to be going fine — but he does have one concern: "The planter — the height of is it higher than the railings of the balcony."

Because Canada Geese are a protected species, he is not allowed to tamper with or move the nest or planter.

Not knowing what to do, Lavin contacted the Wildlife Society here in Edmonton for advice. The group told him he was not allowed to touch the eggs while the mother is nesting.

"Basically, their advice was just to wait it out and then hopefully catch the goslings as they're hatching," he said.

"And then once the mother flies down to the street — I would be able to go and get the little goslings and take them down to street level myself."

That's partly where the webcam comes in, Lavin said. Since sitting at home 24 hours a day to wait for the goslings to hatch isn't a possibility, the camera lets him keep an eye on the situation while he's at work.

Lavin said he's been told the hatching process could take about 25 days — leaving him about 15 to go.

"There isn't really too much to do," he said. "She's just going to be sitting there, keeping them warm and comfortable."

You can follow the progress of mother goose and goslings on Lavin's blog.

• Listen to interview with Benjamin Lavin here