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Friday, June 25, 2010

Three Goose Families

I thought for awhile there maybe I frightened a few people off with my post yesterday. Admittedly it wasn't my usual fare, but I will definitely be writing more things like that in the future. It was the first time I've ever truly brought some of my real opinions out into the open rather than hide them deep down in the content to be wondered about. But today it's back to something more normal from me.

Nature is my main passion here anyway. And boy do I have nature for you today! About a month or two ago I was complaining that all of the geese have disappeared from my normal haunts, but I recently found out I was dead wrong about that. They weren't gone, they were only hiding better than before!

Last year there were two families of geese on my favorite small lake that formed a bigger flock together. Well this year there are not two, but three families of geese out there on that lake! They are proudly parading their young ones back and forth, up and down that lake.

To be honest, there is one more family, but not as many babies. One family has six young ones. The other two have two each. That's one less baby, but two more adults this year. I don't know where they were all hiding, but they make the same areas their home now. I wonder if any of these are my old pets from last year.

I suspect these families were hiding at the other end of the lake, the place where no humans go. I always watched for them there, but I never saw them at all. But I could only really see that from the edge of the hiking trails. Maybe I needed a further adventure.

All of that doesn't matter now anyway, because they're here out in the open now. Some of the babies are even changing their baby fuzz to legitimate adult style feathers. They don't fly yet, but I've seen these same families out across the road that runs parallel to the river, but not too close.

Here's some of those teenage geese now. I mentioned a short while back about baby swans not being ugly ducklings, but take a look at these goony birds. I guess they're like any teenagers. They are going through an awkward stage before they truly look grown up. So have some sympathy for them in their awkward time. They'll be leaving the nest all too soon.

Many people consider geese to be pests, but I personally love these noisy creatures. They're such friendly sociable creatures. Their intelligence is debatable, but they are certainly friendly. I think these are the birds that are thought of when someone says the term bird brain in reference to a dimwitted person.

I still like 'em anyway. Geese are such fun creatures. They're my friends.


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12 comments:

  1. Geese, just like peacocks. I like them when they quiet.
    Btw,
    I didn't know rat and geese can be friend... :)

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  2. Lovely shots! I must now go check yesterdays post. :-)

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  3. There are many types of rat, and this special one makes friend with geese, squirrel, birds and so on.

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  4. They make a good guard on the farm or acreage.I enjoy watching them always in single file and with such grace.

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  5. The neighborhood is growing, excellent. I still think the little ones are cute even if they are in their awkward stage

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  6. it's always great to observe a family of wildlife, you have great shots of them, i don't observe them often here, i guess i am stuck with the seals and sea gulls :)

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  7. I love our geese on our lake too....I hate it when folks complain about their goose leavings...heck, they have to go somewhere and they were here before we were, right? ha

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  8. Geese kind of make me nervous. I've heard they can put the bitey on, but good! That's usually in reference to domestic geese, but I bet the wild ones can be pretty short-tempered with a curious kitty, too.

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  9. Awesome pictures! We have a huge pond in the park next door to our house and there's a whole flock (is that right? flock?) of geese and one Great Blue Heron residing there. Often we go over to feed them. They ARE very friendly, or just very hungry all the time, lol! But they are such fun to watch, esp. the babies!

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  10. @Witchie's Place
    Yup, flock is right. A flock of geese when it's on the ground or in the water can also be called a gaggle. In the air, they are always called a flock.

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  11. Ratty...I'm so glad the geese are back and they they have lovely families....such a wonderful place to be bringing up their goslings too!!

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  12. I love the geese, they do make messes but the again, so do us humans. Love these photos.

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