A great day for ducks and geese

The white goose, aka Mr. Nanny, is accompanying 3 goslings.  Sadly, this family of geese started out with 5 goslings.  :(   Hopefully this family will remain healthy and safe.

Here, the parents keep their offspring swimming in single file headed toward the lake's shore.  Check out the turtle hanging onto the tree branch around the middle of the picture.

The newest family of geese.  SEVEN babies!! 

Still sitting on her eggs.

Our resident Pekin Duck couple.  Looks like they're on a beach, huh?

So cute!

Male Mallards with too much time on their webbed feet

The female Mallards are nesting.  Seems like the male Mallards could be bored now that they don't have the females to pal around with and chase? So, maybe for excitement this guy is balancing himself on one foot while snoozing instead of sleeping on the ground.

I guess the other 2 couldn't let the first guy continue to sleep. 

However, a fourth Mallard was sleeping in front of a nearby bench and was able to continue to sleep.

So, as far as their adventure goes, the three Mallardteers found something interesting - probably something tasty in the water- by the waters edge.  See if you can find all three of them.  Two of them are next to the rock and one is behind the rock but he blends in pretty well with the rock.

Beautiful Wood Ducks

I love the look of the Wood Duck.  I guess they got that name because they look like they've been carved from wood and painted.  This guy is by himself, possibly his mate is sitting on their nest.  Another pair of Wood Ducks are trying to avoid interactions with this guy.

Here is the Wood Duck couple trying not to interact with the other Wood Duck.

She is so small and moves so quickly that it's easy to miss this very cool way that her feathers on her head give the illusion of a hat or a punk hairdo.

Another good picture of her with what looks like beige with short white brush strokes on the lower body and the dark area just above her bill accentuated by the white area around her eye making her look almost exotic. And he looks great, looking like he's talking to her and with that red eye he, once again, looks almost like a wooden duck instead of a Wood Duck.

Couldn't resist this pic either.

Notice the white on his throat area in all of the pictures.  It looks a little different in each one.  I guess depending on whether he stretches his  neck out?

Very unusual turtle pictures!

I knew when his head popped out of the water that there was something VERY different about him.  WOW I think that is the scariest looking turtle face I've ever taken a picture of.  Yikes!

 Even though this turtle's head does not look like it's made of some petrified material, because of his size and that he is a snapping turtle, I'd be scared if I were swimming somewhere and came across the likes of him.  Holy cow!

When I downloaded my pics and saw this face..... my knees started knocking together from fear. His eyes alone could give me nightmares!

And a turtle shell sticking up out of the water like this makes me ask..... Why?......What?.....How?

Being a gosling looks exhausting!

Learning to go up steps.  Must be hard to do with only little stubs for wings.  Wouldn't that be like us hiking without arms?

Look at the little guy ready to jump off the railroad tie.  I'd be scared.  Once again, they're able to balance themselves when jumping down without the use of wings.

More big jumps up for these little guys.  They were so tired by the time they got to the next to the last step that they found a way to walk up to the last step - must have been like smaller steps or a ramp.

Mr. Nanny doing his job with one of the goslings.

Mom and Dad watching to make sure the babies stay away from traffic.  Broadening the experiences of the babies.

Parents acting as guards as their offspring run around near traffic.

All that hard work makes a gosling so tired.  Like human babies, don't they look so innocent while asleep?

Notice the leg extended behind the gosling on the right.  Could that be comfortable?  Then again, some human babies often sleep in totally uncomfortable looking positions.

Can't be too uncomfortable to extend a leg while sleeping if 2 of them are doing it.  I'd have to think their legs would be sore from jumping up and down and swimming.  No wonder they're napping!

At first you see 5, but 6 makes more sense

I was so tickled that momma goose let me see her eggs!! I think she was taking a break, stretching her legs. There appears to be 5 eggs, but it makes sense that there is another egg beneath the center egg.

Look how proud she looks!

As she tenderly touches her eggs, I can tell she's going to be a good momma goose!  As I was getting this picture, her mate came crashing in, splashing water, letting me know he thought I had gone far enough or too far.  I thanked him before leaving. :)

Family of geese on a family picnic

 

While mom and dad are on the lookout, 3 of the youngens are eating while the other 2 are either resting or eating while lying down.  And Mr. Nanny is eating with the little ones.

I heard a goose honk loudly and then immediately saw the 5 babies scramble towards mom. As they're running, you can see their little, tiny, undeveloped wings that look a little more than stubs sticking up in the air.  If they had wings, they would have used them.  It will be a while before they have wings that are full size and fully functional.  Later in the summer I hope to be able to get some pics of them practicing flying.  It's very, very cool!  But, we can enjoy their infancy, and toddler phases for now.  :)

At first glance I could only see 2 of the babies.  Upon closer look at the picture, I can see a little yellow fluff at the V in mom's neck as she rests by the shore.  I'm sure they're snuggled up close to her.  Awwww, melts my heart.

Mr. Nanny standing guard while the entire family feasts and relaxes. 

Mr. Nanny quenching his thirst while the family members either rest, rest while eating, or feast on what looks like cracked corn leftover from someone who came to feed the ducks and geese earlier.  This family of geese, along with Mr. Nanny, hung out here for a good part of the afternoon.  Kind of like a day at the beach?

Baby geese on the Lake!

What a great family pic of mom, dad, children and Mr. nanny!

Everyone doing a great job staying together.  It's hard work for the babies.  They'll sleep good tonight!

I wonder if the parents keep counting to make sure there are five children in tow

I love the way the babies are all following Mr. Nanny!

The parent that was in the rear making sure all the babies got out of the water.  One of the resident white ducks coming over to take a look at the cute babies. Right now the babies can only get in and out of water where they can walk in and walk out because they can't jump onto or down from something.

I think the mom was thinking about jumping over the railroad ties but realized the children wouldn't be able to make it.

The nanny letting everyone know he has arrived.

Surprisingly, the parents and Mr. Nanny got out into the water before all the babies did and the last baby was scrambling to try to catch up.

On their way back to where they'll spend the night.  In a safe place with easy access to the water in case of an emergency.

Getting further away from my camera, the babies looking like they might be anxious to get back to where they can take a nap or turn in for the night, getting ahead of their parents.

They're here!! Baby Geese!!!

Oh, my goodness!  How cute!! 

The same 5 baby geese, aka goslings.  With their mom standing behind them.

So hard to believe that these tiny things will grow up to be Canadian Geese!  Notice the one on the far left - his feathers look wet and appear to be sticking up in the air.  Maybe his mom licked his feathers into place :)

Mean Mr. Goose ruffling his feathers to show me he's protecting the little ones.  He's appointed himself the male nanny for this family this year.  Every year he appoints himself as the nanny to a family of Canadian Geese with their newborns and takes his job quite seriously!

Geese with new offspring stay close to the waters edge where the area resembles a shoreline.  It will be a while before the little ones can fly or jump in or out of the water at an embankment.

By the end of the summer it will be hard to remember how tiny they started out!