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Sunday, March 29, 2009

Spread You Wings

I've been watching ducks and geese lately. They seem to be everywhere I go right now. Anywhere there is water, there are geese or ducks, or even both. There doesn't always have to be water either. I've seen geese wandering around in peoples front yards.

I know, I know. You think I've got geese on the brain. You think I'm going insane. It's not just me that's seeing them though. You're seeing them too! Just look at the pictures. This is my evidence. I'm not insane I tell you!

In reality, there are geese and ducks everywhere around here, and there will be more coming soon. We haven't seen anything yet! In a little while they'll come in full force. When that happens, the geese like to gather outside of my house very early in the morning and have a huge, very loud goose party.

The problem with geese is that they are big enough that they aren't really afraid of anything. Nobody with any brains is going to go out in the middle of a big gaggle of geese, and try to shoo them away. You could get hurt that way.

Geese aren't necessarily shy about fighting back, so you won't read about any war with geese from me! They are actually pretty sociable and friendly as long as you don't get too close. You could get within a few feet of them as long as they aren't acting too crazily.

I wouldn't try feeding any of them when they're in a big group though. You'd probably get mobbed if you tried it. I ought to try feeding a very small group just to see what they do though. It might be interesting, but I don't want to be chased around for more food.

Ducks on the other hand aren't any danger. Most of us know that they are much smaller than geese. You're not going to get very close to any ducks, because they are small enough that they could get hurt. Maybe they would be a little safer to feed.

Actually, none of this is what this post was originally intended to be about anyway. I just wanted to show you these photos of geese and ducks with their wings spread out. The last picture was taken on the very last day that I saw ice on the Carpenter Lake. It's been a good gathering place for these birds.

Spread your wings, geese. Spread your wings, ducks. I'll see you again tomorrow.


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14 comments:

  1. I haven't seen the geese back here yet and they are beautiful but I've been bitten by a goose and it does hurt so I always keep my distance. I enjoyed your photos.

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  2. I love these with the spread wings!
    You are getting good with your camera to catch these and not have them blur! Are you using an automotic setting or doing some manual settings with the apeture (spelling?) ?

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  3. Geese, to my experience, are not so friendly. They tend to attack people once we get close to them.

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  4. The second picture really make the geese's wingspan looks wide... Nice pic

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  5. How lovely! However when to comes to geese, I prefer to be at a distance so it's great to have a camera!

    Nice photos so keep them up.

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  6. Mountain Woman - Geese have also been known to use their wings to beat any animal they think is a threat. I've heard they've killed coyotes that way.
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    The Retired One - I leave the camera on the normal setting, but I can switch it to take a series of pictures. Then I hold down the button and take three or four pictures.
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    Rainfield - Your experience is the right one. As long as we don't get too close they are okay, but if we get too close they can injure us badly.
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    Kruel - I think their wingspan might be almost that wide. The picture may be deceptive, but their wings are powerful.
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    Hicham - I try to keep my distance too, but sometimes I take a few small risks with them. They have walked over to me a few times.

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  7. oh my! i love the first photo, it looks so peaceful.. great captures

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  8. Vanilla7 - The ducks always have a way of making things seem peaceful. It's relaxing to just sit and watch them.

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  9. That wing span is so beautiful. As always great shots and an interesting post.

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  10. Poetic Shutterbug - I watch for hours to see things like that from the geese. When I'm there, I like to think that they do them just for me.

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  11. Hi Ratty- nice job of getting wing pix. I like the one flying over the water. The geese haven't really shown up here yet. You've generally been about 2 weeks ahead of us where you are. That's fine though... I'm not a big fan of the geese.

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  12. Sharkbytes - The flying shot was fun to get. You're probably lucky that we got the geese first. I like watching them, but they cause havoc whenever there are more than a few. Most people don't want them around. I think they're fine if they stay in the nature preserves, but not in my backyard.

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  13. My tent was attached by geese once they were all pecking at it and pulling it while I was inside :(

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  14. Sandra - That sounds almost amusing to anyone else, but it must have been very frightening. You know more than most that geese can be very dangerous.

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