reward post 3: geese and more geese

one morning a few weeks ago, as i approached our office building, i saw a few heads of geese appear above the tall grass in the vacant lot across the street. as i slowed down, three adult canadian geese appeared and started to cross the road. as they emerged from the grass, a whole mess of fuzzy goslings appeared behind them. they crossed the street and headed towards our building.

i pulled into the parking lot and ran in to alert my co-workers, who were already watching the goose parade. they stopped to feed outside MG's window (she has a birdfeeder which she fills almost every day). the adults stood guard while the babies fed their little faces. you could tell that there were two different broods; there was a small difference in size. we counted 23 goslings in all. we're guessing that two of the adults are a bonded pair, while the other has lost their mate and has joined the pair for help raising their goslings. it's really quite impressive to watch that many geese all in one place. here are some photos:





they came every day for a while, and now they only come occasionally. the babies are growing up so fast. here's an image from a week and a half ago; they're already starting to grow into their feet and develop tail feathers:



just another day at the office, i guess. add this to the menagerie of finches, cardinals, grackles, crows, red-tailed hawks, cooper's hawks, 13-line ground squirrels, chipmunks, and occasional lost house cats that visit our office grounds. it's always interesting to what suburban wildlife will stop by.