Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Goose Tracks

I went back to Heritage Park yesterday, but this time something was different. I had my little friend Alice with me. It's always good to bring her along, because we always find Wonderland when she's there. She has a special ability to see all of the things that others would miss. From chasing rabbits, to spotting blue caterpillars, magical things happen when she's there.

The first thing I planned to do was take another look at the pond. It was half frozen the last time I was here. This time, even though the day was quite warm, the ice covered the whole pond, but it was very thin. When I saw this, my first thought was to take some simple shots of the pond, so I could compare it to the last time. But I saw something that changed that plan a little bit.

There were animal tracks all over the pond. What kind of animal could safely walk on this thin ice? The tracks were pretty deep. It showed me how thin and slushy this ice was. As I said before, the day was quite warm. Looking closer at the tracks, it became apparent what I was seeing. The animals that made these tracks were geese!

These goose tracks were all over the pond. I guess they wanted to go for a swim and couldn't do it here, so they left disappointed. It's a shame I missed them. It would have made a good picture, watching the geese skating around on this pond. The last time I was here, I saw a small group of them while I was leaving, but it was too dark to get a good photo of them.

Animal tracks are what I've been hoping to find in the winter anyway, so this was great. I didn't expect to see any on the ice though. Alice's magic was already working. As long as I keep her from running off after a rabbit, everything always turns out great. I'm serious, she could fall down a rabbit hole or something if I didn't keep an eye on her.

She insists that nothing of the kind would hapen, but I know better. It almost did once. I documented that incident here a while back. I'll put a link to it below if you're interested. This trip she was in top form. I'll reveal some of the magic of Alice in the upcoming days.

Anyway, back to the story. I took several pictures of the pond. Not just the goose tracks, but some other interesting things as well. I hope I have time to put them here, but if I don't it means that I have more exciting things for you. Things like that happen as time goes on. I even got a few pictures of another photographer, at the other end of the pond. He seemed to like the windmill. So do I.

After getting the pictures from the pond, we decided it was time to move on to the hiking trails. I told Alice to lead the way since I knew she would find something great. I was right, she never fails. The magic worked. The only problem was that I was really wondering where those geese went. Those tracks made me feel like I missed something.

Well, we made it most of the way through the park, and were on our way back out when I told her about my thoughts of the geese. I said that I wondered where they were. I wanted to see them at least once before we leave. I told her about seeing them before, and not getting any pictures of them.

It was right about then, as we were stopping so she could rest, she looked up at the sky and said, "Look at that!" It was the geese! They had gone back to the pond while we were gone. I could tell they had been there, because of the direction they were coming from. They were now flying away to a new destination. I quickly raised the camera, and got one shot before they flew away.

I've said here before of my trouble taking any pictures of flying birds. This one wasn't great, but I still got it. The thing was, as if on cue, Alice's magic worked again. I honestly didn't expect to see much on this everyday adventure, even with Alice along. For now all I'll say is, boy was I wrong! Alice found Wonderland again! I'll show you some more of it when I return.


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7 comments:

  1. Alice is truly amazing!
    Mother Goose

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  2. That's why I like when she comes along with me.

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  3. Lucky you to have your little Alice to join you and finally saw where the geese are. Interesting!!

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  4. Love to follow, either you or Alice. Both are so wonderful.

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  5. Yes, I am lucky to have my little friend Alice along, Rose. I think the animals on the nature trails like her too.

    Thanks, Rainfield61. That reminds me to tell Alice, next time I see her, that she is wonderful. Maybe it won't be so long between visits for her next time.

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