Day Camp for Toddler Geese

Carl Brandt and his helper, Jacob, are rebuilding our dock.  The grass along our part of the lakeshore is the favorite restaurant of several families of Canada Geese.  So when builders put on waders and enter the water, I wonder if the geese consider them some kind of water fowl.

They started the project yesterday by exposing the joists and piers to see if they were usable.  They are.  The challenge is to convert the dock's wavy profile into something straight and level.  They've attached a band board on the left side, leveled it, and begun the work of attaching the joists to this new level.

The green stuff in the water is the first big bloom of algae.

The area they're working on will be the lower of two levels.  The area with floorboards still attached will be rebuilt somewhat higher, with a dock entrance that is wider than the dock.

As the men worked in the mid-afternoon, several new families of Canada geese brought their goslings onto my neighbor's back yard for what reminded me of day camp.  The local duck didn't know what to make of it!

The two farthest goslings are "Teen Youth Leaders."  They were the firstborn on our lake.  Two younger families are down there, but only one is visible, with six goslings.

When the parents saw me taking pictures, they all moved together onto our back yard and down to the lake shore about twenty feet away from the non-threatening work on the dock.

Trailing behind them came a family of five.  This is how the trailing adult prods the toddlers to keep a move on toward the water.

While the procession moved into the water, the workmen shifted their attention to the band board on the right side.

When they leveled the right band board, they found that the piers on the right side were five or six inches taller than on the left side.  They will cut off the excess and continue tomorrow.

Family Life a la Goose

A few months ago I wrote about a goose trapped in the ice on Hidden Lake.  An eagle landed on the ice and walked carefully over to the goose to see if there was an easy kill to be had.  But the goose flapped powerfully and the eagle thought better of an attack.

The next day there was enough of a thaw for the goose to escape the ice.  Day after day we watched that goose, alone on the lake.  Then one day another goose joined the recuperating one.  Was it the missing mate?  We hoped so.

Suddenly a week ago we saw a pair of geese with a little gosling on our grass by the lake shore.  And then this morning all heaven broke loose here.

When I walked out onto the deck this morning with my camera, the goose family started to walk to the lake.  The three little ones hurried along.  Soon they were sailing away...

A couple of hours later, Kathy called for me to rush to the window and see the TWO families of geese in the back yard.  Each family had three goslings.  As soon as I walked onto the deck with my camera, the group on the right began to move immediately toward the water.

See how the three little ones are trying to fly?  Their wings are out at their sides.  Instinct tells them the wings have an important purpose, but they don't work yet.  The legs do, though, and the little webbed feet.

Life on the lake.  The turtles at Turtle Haven thought nothing of what was going on and continued sunning themselves on a floating log.