Monday, May 21, 2007
Late Spring.
About 30 years ago, I took a canoeing course in Newton, MA. It think it was on the Charles River, but I’m not sure. I just remember taking the subway out to Newton, and canoeing on the river, and seeing ducks in the spring. They would follow the canoe - or lead the canoe, depending on how tired I was of paddling. Mama duck and baby ducks. Because it was Spring.
Today, I went to Klineline Park. There are two ponds there - the good, relatively clean one, for swimming (although it’s too cold for swimming now); and the dirty, skuzzy one which is full of weeds, and looks far more wild. That one had Ducks. One Mama duck was swimming around. There were spots in the water - bugs or algae or just dirty water. The water was being stirred by something. The something turned out to be baby ducks. I had a hard time telling how many there were, because they kept moving around, grouping, ungrouping, regrouping, swirling around Mama duck. After watching a while, I moved around the pond, to see if I could get a better look. The ducks moved as well, and when I next could see them, they were entirely visible. Seven babies and one Mama. The babies were fuzzy, but they were still able to swim. They followed Mama some of the time, but they also struck out on their own, poking at weeds in the water, and at bugs, taking bites and drinks, swimming a little ways away from Mama, but not too far, never too far. Mama scooted them out to the deep water, and then around the pond, and finally back to the bank. So I moved on.
I thought I’d walk to the osprey nest, to see if it was inhabited this summer.
But on the way, I found two Canada geese standing sentinel. They were standing quite still, even though there were fishermen on the bank near them. I was surprised they weren’t moving, just standing. And then I saw a puff of grey fuzz. And another puff. I didn’t want to get too close, because I know geese are pretty territorial, but I had to see what the fuzz was. There were four blobs of fuzz, bopping up and down. They turned out to be heads of baby geese (goslings, says Soren). The babies were sitting in the grass, because their legs were tired of standing. They were picking at the grass and at the bugs. Bite, bite, bite. After they had bitten for a few minutes, they’d stand up. Standing on only two feet is a bit of a chore - geese are pretty weighty. They’d have to flap their wings. But the wings were so tiny! They were not big goose-shaped wings, just little stubby fingers. Flapping them couldn’t have made a difference to balance, but they’d flap all the same. They’d take two or three steps, and get tired of standing, and then the legs would collapse. The geese would just lower into the ground. A gradual plop - just like lowering oneself into chattaranga. Then they’d bite at the grass again. They were soft grey all over - not grey and black and white, like Mom and Dad - just a soft fuzzy grey, like a small pillow. With tiny wings.
I walked on, still wanting to see if the Osprey were there. And indeed, I could see at least one, and I think two osprey in the nest. But when I reached the bridge before the nest, I found more birds! I saw a heron across the pond. No baby heron, unfortunately, because I’ve never seen a baby and would like to know what they look like. And, I saw another (single) goose and a duck. No great excitement, so after watching the osprey nest, and the other birds in the water, I returned to the geese, the grass, the ponds, and the evening in the park.
Certainly, this was a worthwhile expedition.
(this gosling image is from the UBC in Canada, address http://www.geog.ubc.ca/biodiversity/efauna/images/CanadaGooseGosling3.jpg, accessed today, 21 May 2007).
About 30 years ago, I took a canoeing course in Newton, MA. It think it was on the Charles River, but I’m not sure. I just remember taking the subway out to Newton, and canoeing on the river, and seeing ducks in the spring. They would follow the canoe - or lead the canoe, depending on how tired I was of paddling. Mama duck and baby ducks. Because it was Spring.
Today, I went to Klineline Park. There are two ponds there - the good, relatively clean one, for swimming (although it’s too cold for swimming now); and the dirty, skuzzy one which is full of weeds, and looks far more wild. That one had Ducks. One Mama duck was swimming around. There were spots in the water - bugs or algae or just dirty water. The water was being stirred by something. The something turned out to be baby ducks. I had a hard time telling how many there were, because they kept moving around, grouping, ungrouping, regrouping, swirling around Mama duck. After watching a while, I moved around the pond, to see if I could get a better look. The ducks moved as well, and when I next could see them, they were entirely visible. Seven babies and one Mama. The babies were fuzzy, but they were still able to swim. They followed Mama some of the time, but they also struck out on their own, poking at weeds in the water, and at bugs, taking bites and drinks, swimming a little ways away from Mama, but not too far, never too far. Mama scooted them out to the deep water, and then around the pond, and finally back to the bank. So I moved on.
I thought I’d walk to the osprey nest, to see if it was inhabited this summer.
But on the way, I found two Canada geese standing sentinel. They were standing quite still, even though there were fishermen on the bank near them. I was surprised they weren’t moving, just standing. And then I saw a puff of grey fuzz. And another puff. I didn’t want to get too close, because I know geese are pretty territorial, but I had to see what the fuzz was. There were four blobs of fuzz, bopping up and down. They turned out to be heads of baby geese (goslings, says Soren). The babies were sitting in the grass, because their legs were tired of standing. They were picking at the grass and at the bugs. Bite, bite, bite. After they had bitten for a few minutes, they’d stand up. Standing on only two feet is a bit of a chore - geese are pretty weighty. They’d have to flap their wings. But the wings were so tiny! They were not big goose-shaped wings, just little stubby fingers. Flapping them couldn’t have made a difference to balance, but they’d flap all the same. They’d take two or three steps, and get tired of standing, and then the legs would collapse. The geese would just lower into the ground. A gradual plop - just like lowering oneself into chattaranga. Then they’d bite at the grass again. They were soft grey all over - not grey and black and white, like Mom and Dad - just a soft fuzzy grey, like a small pillow. With tiny wings. I walked on, still wanting to see if the Osprey were there. And indeed, I could see at least one, and I think two osprey in the nest. But when I reached the bridge before the nest, I found more birds! I saw a heron across the pond. No baby heron, unfortunately, because I’ve never seen a baby and would like to know what they look like. And, I saw another (single) goose and a duck. No great excitement, so after watching the osprey nest, and the other birds in the water, I returned to the geese, the grass, the ponds, and the evening in the park.
Certainly, this was a worthwhile expedition.
(this gosling image is from the UBC in Canada, address http://www.geog.ubc.ca/biodiversity/efauna/images/CanadaGooseGosling3.jpg, accessed today, 21 May 2007).
