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Monday, March 14, 2011

The Return Of My Geese

Finally, my geese have come back to Carpenter Lake! Many of you don't know why I say these are my geese. Some of you long time readers understand why, but I'll go ahead and tell the story.

You see, it may not be these exact geese, but it might be. I watched these geese from all the way back when they were still eggs to when they grew up and flew away. I missed seeing them hatch, but I came very close. I watched over them and their mother every day back then, while their father looked on to make sure I wasn't a threat.

Then one day after a huge rainstorm the mother and the babies were gone. The only thing left were the remnants of the hatched eggs. This innocent animal watching adventurer was heartbroken. But then a couple weeks later the whole family was back, swimming around in the lake! And I got to watch all the rest of their development.

That first year I actually watched what I believe was the mother and the whole original family fly onto the frozen lake. When it got warmer there was the mother on the nest. I've watched them fly in each year since. Here above are the footprints of them from their landing this year. They didn't stay long yet. Soon this lake will be their home once again.

Many people around here consider geese to be awful lawn crapping pests, but out here where they belong they are a glorious beauty of nature and a fun comical sideshow. Geese are some of my favorite animals because they are so easy to photograph. They will even pose sometimes. And some of them even come over when called.

I wrote a few strange posts awhile back just for fun calling the geese my evil minions. If you want to read any of my past goose stories the handy dandy search box on the right is perfect for finding them. For me, the return of my geese gave me fond thoughts of the past. What does this for you?


Rat Tales - I have an all new episode to my newest story up today!
Nature Center Magazine - Your starting place for nature! Now with pepsin!

15 comments:

  1. I enjoy watching the families grow on a small lake I fish a lot.I had one family that started at 19, an amazing group that was easy to spot. I skated with them over the winter.I have a few areas where the flocks are so huge they take over 20 minutes to fly by.

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  2. We have Canada geese in the nature reserve area at the top of Poole harbour, which is walking distance from my house. I was walking beside it recently and saw a family of geese on the grassy shore. True enough there was lots of goose crap around. LOL. I detoured around them and they took no notice of me at all. I love seeing them and all the other wildlife around here.

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  3. Lovely story about your geese. We don't see many geese where I live. Some neighbors of mine have a pond with some ducks in it though. They are funny to watch.

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  4. I'm so glad you got to see your geese coming home...I am surprised they have returned with the snow still on the ground...maybe they know it's going to get warmer!!

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  5. What a nice surprise to see them return.

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  6. A terrific tribute to spring-the return of Canada Geese. In these parts they would only find three feet of ice so it will be a while, in the mean time I can read about your spring time adventures, and I will.

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  7. I can't wait EVERY spring to hear the flocks of geese fly in from the south...Up in the U.P. it is a spring ritual that everyone waits for and reports to everyone else!!

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  8. Very nice picture of them flying. I have a hard time getting very excited about geese though. (sorry)

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  9. Very nice photo of the geese in flight! It is such a privilege to be able to watch a family like that go through their annual cycle. Oddly, our geese near here are so wild I can't do that with them, but for two years now we have been able to with wild turkeys. I'm so glad for the experience!

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  10. Very cool in flight shot! Come on...of course they are the same Geese.:)

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  11. I'm glad your geese are back. But then, I figured they would be.

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  12. Wow. You have such lovely memory with the geese, I mean your geese. We don't have geese roaming around freely here, so it's kinda hard for me to picture it.
    Enjoy your "reunion" with your geese! :)

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  13. @Out on the prairie
    I think all of those geese would be an amazing sight.
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    @jakill
    The one big problem with geese is that you have to watch where you step sometimes. That's why a lot of people around here consider themas pests.
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    @Vicky Heully
    Ducks are every bit as fun as geese. I've had some very good times watching ducks in this very same park.
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    @Allotments4you
    This is actually the type of weather they always return in. They know spring is almost here. It's beginning to warm up, but the snow and ice is still here. They love to come to a skidding landing on the ice of the lake.
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    @Ann
    I was mainly surprised that I actually got that picture of them.
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    @Bill
    I think our Great Lakes make sure we get a timely spring on my side of Michigan.
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    @The Retired One
    I bet you get the same type of huge flocks that Out on the prairie gets. They chase those that big away around here.
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    @Sharkbytes
    I completely understand. They aren't always the tidiest animals. :)
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    @Montucky
    I have sort of the opposite experience. I would love to get a good look at a wild turkey. I almost got a picture of some once, but it was dark, rainy, and they left very quickly.
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    @Jean
    The picture was pure luck. :)
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    @Sparkle
    Yup, those geese always right on time.
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    @Con Artist Trickster
    I'm sure you have another kind of animal that roams your area. But I guess we do have a lot of wildlife for such an urban area here.

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  14. Maybe they come back, Ratty, because you give them such a warm welcome! From what you say, not everyone greets them so warmly!

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  15. Your blogs arouse my interests in travelling !

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