Tuesday, March 6, 2012

This is a picture of a Chinese Swan Goose.  This is the resident Chinese Swan Goose that hangs out at Lake Afton.  He shows signs of possibly having been in some fights and lost - he has a large feather or part of a wing sticking out on his left side and many of his feathers are tattered.  But, in my opinion, he has a wonderful personality.  He often acts as a crossing guard, standing in the middle of Afton Avenue honking while the other geese, including little Canadian Geese goslings in the spring and summer, travel back and forth.  I've seen him do this so many times that I'm sure he takes his job very seriously.  I think he also is a goose air traffic controller - right before Canadian Geese take off from the Lake or land into the Lake he honks very loudly if he's in the Lake.  And, if you're feeding the ducks and geese he often will walk up closer to you.  It's not to scare you.  It didn't take me long to notice that because he's bigger than the ducks and other geese by the time he bends down to get what people have thrown, the smaller and quicker geese and ducks have already consumed it.  He's just trying to increase his odds of getting some food, whether it be bread pieces or cracked corn.

2 comments:

  1. I remember seeing him!It is so nice to sit by the lake and watch....you sure have a piece of paradise there!

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  2. Yeah, he's hard to miss, especially when he's busy with his duties of traffic controller and crossing guard. Yeah, it's peaceful to watch him and all the rest of what goes on in and around the lake. You can certainly lose track of time sitting by the lake.

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