Duck, Duck... Goose?

Every year for the last 5 years we have watched the same pair of geese attempt to hatch goslings and every year something happens. It has been so sad to watch them fail time and again over the years. This year we were very hopeful that they would finally get the chance to raise some babies. I love geese and really want to watch the whole process in the wild. We have been very careful as always to keep our distance as much as possible so as not to alarm them. Indeed all seemed to be going well.

Father goose has been very watchful over his mate and although he will allow a few small ducks on the pond he will not allow anything else and is ferocious about chasing any possible interlopers away.

Some of the "allowed" interlopers. Although every once in a while father goose will decide to chase them off too.

A pair which was chased away.

Usually mother goose builds her nest on top of an old muskrat den but this year she wasn't there and try as we might we couldn't seem to locate her.  It wasn't until we took a close look at the muskrat den that we realized it was being put to use and indeed a new muskrat had decided to build onto it. No wonder mother goose wasn't in her usual place!

Finally about 4 days ago we found her. 

All looked well and we only were there long enough to take a quick picture before leaving her in peace. But all was not well... and for the last few days we haven't seen father goose anywhere. To top it off, yesterday three strangers arrived and took up residence in the pond with no challenge from father goose. What could possibly be wrong?

Finally Mountain Man and I decided it was time to find out what happened. When we arrived at the spot nothing could be seen, no goose... nothing. Were the eggs still there? Had she left them for some reason? It didn't seem likely as the two of them were so ferociously protective of them. Did a predator get to them? I really needed to know! But how to find out? The water was too deep to walk out there and we have no canoe or boat. What to do?

In the end there I was standing on the safety of the bank while Mountain Man waded out into the still freezing water of the pond towards where the nest was. How can you not love a man who will walk into freezing water up to his hips to check on what happened to a wild goose just because his wife wants to know? Sigh.... makes my heart go pitter pat every time. 

Nothing... The eggs were gone, the nest was almost gone and all that was left was water. What mother goose had thought was a safe place to build had turned out to be a disaster. We have had nothing but rain for days on end and the nest was flooded out. As I look back at the previous photo's now I wonder that we didn't notice her impending danger as it was right there for us to see. Check out the bottom left corner of the photo below. The water level when this is blown up goes almost to the nest. Poor girl, she didn't have a chance as we have had a lot more rain since then.

So here we are again a pond empty of geese. Oh they come and go but mostly it is just the little ducks swimming around. Maybe next year?

A Beautiful Day

It is really hard to stay indoors when so much is happening outside. In fact this morning I couldn't do it, so instead I went out to listen and see the signs of spring. I still am shaking my head at the warm weather but I'm certainly not complaining. As you can see from the picture below the ponds are still frozen.

The frozen state of the water however, has not stopped the geese from continuing to fly north. This morning there was wave after wave of them honking above us flying to parts unknown but seemingly unfazed by the fact that it is only March and we could have a snow storm at any time. Maybe they know something I don't?

I'm really loving being able to take close ups with my new lens. 

Last evening we had a few other visitors which were much more skittish than usual and refused to come very close but thankfully I was able to capture them anyway. They came out of the woods and stared for a long time at the house and outbuildings unsure if they should risk coming out into the open. I took the first picture through the window so it didn't turn out as clear as I would have liked.

Wanting a better picture I very slowly and quietly poked the camera out the door and was able to take a few quick shots but the clicking sound was too much for them and they left. It really is amazing how far sound carries out here. Oh well... I imagine with their increasing size, being most of them are pregnant, they are getting more skittish. 

It wasn't 10 minutes later that another group decided to come out and feed in our alfalfa field on the opposite side of the property. This photo of course is much further away and the sun was setting so it was getting rather dark. 

They were way on the other side of the ponds and about a 1/4 mile away. Oh, I do hope when all the little ones are born this spring we are able to get some shots of them! Well, have a great day everyone! I am off to do some baking and then spend a lot more time out of doors today. What signs of spring are you seeing in your area?

Weird Weather, Strange Birds

So.... here we are in the middle of March and the weather is turning spring like. I love spring but never expect it in March. I can't say I am complaining however. Remember my photo of the snowman a few days ago and the snow storm we had last week? Well...  things sure have changed! We had between 1.5 to 2 feet of snow at the end of last week but yesterday with our unusually warm weather things really changed.

This photo was taken yesterday in the late afternoon. Last night the wind was howling like crazy and even though it felt cold obviously it was still warm enough to melt the snow

By this morning almost all the snow is gone.

Now I expect to have a few nice days in March. I even expect sometimes, have it warm enough to melt the snow as has been happening over the last few days. But what I don't expect is to see geese. Yep! That's right, geese flying north. What a strange spring this is turning out to be.

At first I have to admit I didn't believe it. Mountain Man had been to a neighbors yesterday and told me when he came home that the neighbor had seen geese flying over head. I figured he must have been mistaken as we have had a lot of groups of crows flying and it is WAY to early for geese. So, today when Mountain Man came into the house and pretty much grabbed me and pulled me outside to see, I realized I was wrong.

What are they doing here so early and what does it mean for spring and summer this year? No clue, but it should be very interesting.