Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Ssssssss!!!

I bet when you saw the title of this post you thought I was going to show you a snake. Hah, but you're wrong! It's geese! I walked past dozens of geese at this new park, and I've never been hissed at so many times in my life.

These creepy geese seemed friendly on the surface, but they would get mad if you tried to get where you were going. Come within ten feet of them and they would begin hissing. My usual response was to look at them and firmly tell them to calm down. This would send them waddling out of my way, but still hissing.

This type were the worst culprits. If the geese had any goslings the hissing would begin much sooner, and it would last longer than the others. I never tried to get close to any of these poop machine geese, but it was sometimes unavoidable.

These angry geese made me long for my familiar geese of the closer to home park where the geese come up to me in a more friendly manner. Those old geese seemed to have moved on though. They were unfortunately put off by people and their dogs. Just like people though, some geese are good and others are jerks. And some are just worried about their safety.

This goose wasn't hissing, and I stayed very far away. When an animal has a nest you should respect their space. Her mouth is open because it is full of feathers. She plucks some of her own feathers to pad the nest to keep the eggs warm.

Here's a look at her doing just that. We also get a good look at the eggs here. This is the second time I've been able to see goose eggs. The other time was better but this was good too. I moved along quickly top give this mother some privacy. I didn't want her to start too. Sssssss!!!



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12 comments:

  1. I used to keep a few geese Ratty. The Gander became quite vicious. They all had to go when they attacked my boy. Lovely to look at from afar. Nice photo's.

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  2. You have such a close encounter.

    Shhhhh.... Don't frighten them away.

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  3. Our local park geese sound very much like these geese!
    The ridiculous thing is needing to keep our large dogs safe from the geese! ;)

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  4. Some folks have kept geese for the same reason that others have watch dogs. They are territorial and can be quite aggressive.

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  5. I love it when geese are protecting their nests. They can be pretty intimidating! Sometimes they get a little carried away but who can blame them. And they are such beautiful creatures, particularly in flight!

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  6. I love these geese, they remind me of my Father In Law. But we have a real problem here in North Carolina with them, and especially at the University. So much so, that they state has hired a woman with a standard poodle trained to root them out during breeding season and destroy the eggs. You cant walk anywhere on campus without finding their "love letters" as it were, and they are terribly territorial. One of them set up shop in the middle of a side road...In a pot hole! It was eventually persuaded to go somewhere else, but for a few weeks there, you had to make a real effort to avoid that goose.

    I think that since they are protected, and restrictions (at least here in NC anyway)are imposed on hunting them, they have become more invasive than perhaps they need be. Question is, how do we control them? CAN we control them? SHOULD we control them? The environmentalist (and misanthrope) in me likes that they are fighting so hard to establish themselves, but the parent in me greatly dislikes that my kids cant play at out local park without stepping in their fecal matter.

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  7. Hey Ratty....just been catching up on your posts after having some incredibly busy weeks...so good to see you getting out there with the nature again and I promise it won't take so long for me to come by and comment again!!

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  8. Canada geese are so interesting to watch. I have never had any problem with them except during nesting season and then only severe hissing. It's the pesky white domestic ones that have really bad tempers. Great shot of the eggs in the nest.

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  9. Those are really nice shots in between all of the hissing. That insistence on protecting the family has made them a very successful species. Sure is nice to see them with their families!

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  10. Good to see ur Updating. Yeh geese are b**ches. One of my Mother in law's geese nearly took out one of my babies. Oh well that baby never messed with geese again until she outweighed them by at least 4:1

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  11. Great photos Ratty!! Love that you got a shot at the eggs in the nest. They are sure pretty birds!! Someone told me there are baby ducks in the next town right along the main drag. I should get up there and take photos but there really isn't anywhere to park. And these days I'm not driving around much. gas is too expensive.. But it sure would be neat to get pictures of them. I just might try soon.

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  12. Geese are so very good at letting you know when you are not appreciated.

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