GEESE APOCALYPSE

So I had an eight-year-old visitor the other day and we walked down to the pond to look for the goslings. I got a bag with a few slices of bread and we took that to feed them.

She and I made it down the hill but we didn't see the goslings. As my visitor threw bread crumbs to the fish, she was delighted to see some turtles swimming up and gobbling it down.

Then a lone goose swam toward us. Instead of scrabbling for the bread with the turtles and fish, he clambered up on the bank and eyed my bag and honked. When he headed toward us purposefully, we detoured in a different direction and there were a couple with five or six goslings The father stepped in front of his little brood protectively, so we had second thoughts about feeding them.

Retreating, we ran into the first goose. He headed straight for my bread bag. Alarmed, I shook it at him. "Go away!'

He hissed at me and kept coming.

I herded my visitor around him, going back to where we could feed the fish and turtles and another goose couple who'd swum over. With a flurry of wings and honking, here came the whole goose family after us. We fed everyone without incident.

Until the aggressive goose came waddling toward us fast as he could. We hastily threw out the remaining bread.

Then all the geese started making noises. The one persistent goose hemmed us in. The others started climbing the bank.

My visitor squealed. "Let's leave!" she said.

"Good idea!"

We beat a hasty retreat as the geese bore down on us. They didn't stop chasing us till we reached the road.

"Wow!" I wiped my brow. "That was kind of scary."

"I know I was scared," she agreed.

"I thought we were going to be trampled by a bunch of geese! Wouldn't that be awful, to be caught in a goose stampede!"

She corrected me. "A goose apocalypse!"

Here's a picture of the couple and their goslings. Didn't realize the daddy geese stayed so close to their families!

MORE SPRING

Spring keeps popping into the spotlight, then letting Winter have the stage again.

Here are some poppies from the Botanical Gardens:

And this is my neighbor's snowball bush. Don't think I've seen another one this tall!

And here are a pair of the geese that wintered over. If you look really hard, you can see one little gosling between the momma on the left and the tree:

And here you can see another little gosling, leading the way.

There were several more babies but I was afraid to get too close. Momma and Papa eyed me suspiciously!

A couple of days later, we could only see two or three. I'm afraid something is getting them even though the parents seem very protective.

It was down to forty degrees last night and will be again tonight, then will warm up again. I keep getting out my sandals and then have to put them away. Sigh. Maybe soon I can get a pedicure.

GEESE

It has been so springlike here! We are loving the weather.

And the geese are out in force. I don't know how long they plan to stay but they've been here for several months and have made themselves quite at home. Here are some pix of them across the road from their pond. I guess they're nibbling on grass. Or seeds. Or worms?

They are rather pesky critters, and I don't know how they keep from getting run over when they wander the neighborhood. True, our traffic is slow. And one belligerent goose stared down a car this morning until it detoured around him. Guess they've learned the knack of surviving in an urban environment!

TOUR GUIDE?

A few weeks ago, we saw a tri-colored heron on the pond in our complex and wondered if it had followed us from the island. A couple of days later, Canadian geese flew in and rested on the pond a day or two while the heron was still there. Then everyone left.

"Maybe he was their tour guide," I suggested. "Maybe he came up to take them to their winter home."

We laughed heartily at the idea.

Then, a week or so later, we spotted the heron again. "He's back," I said. "Maybe he's escorting another group south."

Sure enough, the next day more geese flew in, rested up, and flew out. The heron left, too.

"Hmmm," I said, not laughing as much.

Finally, a different group came in. They hung around until...

Sure enough, the tri-color heron flew in, and a day later the pond was empty.

After that, we were sure the heron was in charge of herding travelers down to their winter home.

But now we have a group of geese who came in and settled on our pond before Christmas. Here's part of them.

There's been no sign of the heron and I suspect it's way too cold for him. The geese, however, continue to swim on the pond. I think that without their guide, they're lost.

If the heron doesn't show up and they have to stay here for the winter, I feel sorry for them. We;ve had lows in the thirties, forecast to be in the teens for a day or so. This is a far cry from south Georgia or Florida.

Oh well. They should have been on time like the other geese. Tour guides are busy people and can't afford to wait around for clients who aren't punctual!

AUTUMN LEAVES

In coastal Georgia, we had a little autumn color but not like north Georgia. It's quite nice to be back where most of the trees have leaves that turn in the fall.

These trees line a road going toward our house:

And these are pix of our pond:

And these are some geese on our pond just as the leaves started turning. They were only here for a couple of days so I guess we were just a stopover as they flew further south for the winter.

I loved our island home but you can't beat autumn in north Georgia!