Monday, July 13, 2009

Geese in a Row--and Ducks, too

These aren't the Canada geese that we see around our neighborhood all summer long. No, these geese are Blue-Eyed White Embden Geese, and almost as beautiful as swans, in my opinion. (No offense, Canada geese!)
(Blue-Eyed White Embden Geese, and a Toulouse Goose, June 2009) *Click collage to enlarge

I found it quite interesting to see them swimming together, all lined up in a row! If anyone would care to share your knowledge of them, I'd love to learn more!

These colorful guys are male Mallard ducks. The females are mottled brown. In the world of birds, it's often the case that the male is the colorful one-mainly as a protective measure against the nesting female being noticed by preditors.


(Mallard ducks, June 2009)
*Click collage to enlarge

These ducklings are baby mallards, I think...but I'm not sure. Can anyone tell what they are, from my photos?


(Mallard ducklings, June 2009)
*Click collage to enlarge

There's a story to share about the baby ducks. Looking closely you will see 4 of them swimming together. We found them alone, in the center of a very large lake, where boats were zooming by in every direction. Apparently, mother duck was nowhere to be found, and we were concerned for them! There's a moral dilemma we face when we come across little creatures who appear to be in trouble. Should we intervene, or allow mother nature to take it's course?

Perhaps foolishly, we tried to get them to move closer to the shore by 'strategically' placing our boat in places designed to herd them that way. Unfortunately, one little one became separated from the others, and continued to swim in another direction, alone. The other three didn't even seem to notice, because they stayed the course that they'd started. We made a couple of attempts to direct the little one closer to his brothers and sisters, but being unsuccessful at that, we decided to just get out of the way entirely. All four of them were still very far out in the lake and were at risk for being run over by a fast-moving boat. After we got involved, not only were they still in dangerous territory without their mother, but they were separated from each other, as well! We felt terrible about our decision to try to help. We didn't stay around to find out if they ever got back together. We wished we'd just kept on going in the first place.

Thanks for your visit! Hope July is going well for you!






--Today I am thankful for geese--and ducks, too;-)

23 comments:

  1. The duck photos are wonderful. I love to watch the ducks on one of our favourite waterfront walks.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, Jan, these pics are wonderful! Nearly feel as if we are there. TTFN ~Marydon

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oy, this reminded me of the baby robin that fell out of its nest in our back yard and we had the same dilemma. Everyone told me to let nature take its course. The baby eventually disappeared. But I googled baby robins, and I wish I had done more. Some enterprising person found a plastic box from baby wipes, put the baby inside with cotton and stuff, and hung that from a tree, so that mama could still take care of the baby. I have always regretted not doing this.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cute ducks Jan! The little ones look like little Mallard babies. So you vacationed at Lake Anna? Pretty area.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jan, it is hard to know what to do when you see an animal in trouble, especially baby ones. But I think it is best to let nature take it's own course as hard as that is at times. Like the people who make the wildlife documentaries. They are there to observe only.

    Your photos are wonderful! Those geese look like we could reach out and touch them.

    ReplyDelete
  6. It is always hard to know what is best for the critters.
    The baby rabbit we rescued two weeks ago, is still alive and doing very well. We have been told this is a rare occurrence, as most baby rabbits die from shock within the first few hours or days.We are calling him our miracle bunny.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Those geese really are pretty. We mostly have the Canada geese here, lots and lots of them.
    Those ducklings sure are sweet. I always worry about animals too, it is hard to know what to do.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Jan Lovely photos. Yes what a quandery something we often face in life.
    I often feel in this situation with my efforts to raise awareness of lyme Disease, until I think of the children such as Lewis Jeynes on my blog role.
    I hope you had time to read my recent post Lime for Lyme after your recent brush with the illness.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I've been to Lake Anna, beautiful place! These photos are wonderful, Jan!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Aren't they just beautiful! Maybe one day we can have a pond in the country with ducks. I don't want any geese though, I don't like it when they chase you. Some of them are just mean.--Randy

    ReplyDelete
  11. lovely captures jan...enjoyed the post very much.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Jan,
    Very cute ducks. They are my one of my favorite birds to watch, I enjoyed these photos A lot!
    July is going by fast!
    Rosey

    ReplyDelete
  13. What awesome photos! I love the one with the geese all lined up in a row! Beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hi Jan

    I hope the ducks got back with their Mum. I'ts impossible to know what to do for the best.

    Lovely photos

    Rob

    ReplyDelete
  15. LOVE the geese photos...you obviously have a big heart to take the time and effort to help the baby ducks. I hope all ended well, I choose to believe it did, Kim

    ReplyDelete
  16. Jan, the geese are beautiful! And so cleverly captured!
    Katarina

    ReplyDelete
  17. Wonderful family photos Jan! Love the geese especially :-) July is a great month for sightings isn't it. Thanks, we've been enjoying it too :-D

    ReplyDelete
  18. I probably would have done the same thing. There is an area not far from my home that the ducks frequent and I have stopped a few times to help them cross the road as I'm afraid the cars will hit them. The traffic was so crazy one time that I actually had to put my flashers on, get out of my car, and pick up the baby ducks and deliver them to mama who was really upset. I received a few honks and mean looks, but the ducks made it safely.

    Michelle

    ReplyDelete
  19. Lovely photos! The white geese are so elegant looking.
    Perhaps the little ducks were reunited with their mother after the boat activity died down.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Fun pictures !
    Gotta love nature !
    Reminds me that I have to get out more...too much work.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Now those charming geese would be much more welcome here than the Candian geese that hang out making messes! No, my purple monarda is not Petite Delight unless it was mis-marked. I'm pretty sure it's Grand Parade. Very well behaved.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Such nice photos. They are as pretty as swans.

    ReplyDelete
  23. We raised some embden geese years ago. They are sweet and make good pets. On the other hand Chinese Brown geese are mean. The male is very aggressive and will chase you down and bite you.
    I probably would have tried to catch the baby duck and reunite it with the others. If you have bread they will come for that. That could be why they were so far out to begin with. People were probably feeding them and they were following along. Maybe the mom was somewhere eating and would come back for them.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for visiting and taking the time to comment! Please enjoy your TODAY and all of the gifts in YOUR garden of life!

Jan

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Post Topics

17 year Cicadas...Enough Already! 2011 Official Post 2012 4th of July collage 5-lined skink A Certain Kind of Light A Cozy Fire A Dusting of Snow A Family Meal A Hawkish Tale A Little Bit of Winter A Visit From Miss Glad on Blooming Friday A Visit With The Queen A Warm Cup of Tea Acorns African Violets African Violets:Kitty Style Agastache Allium Am I too late for GBBD Amaryllis Amazing Zinnias American Beautyberry American Hazelnut American Lady American Robin Anemone Anenome Anglewings Anise Hyssop Another Birthday aphids April 2010 April blooms Arbor Day Are Words Really Necessary? Artemesia Asarum Asclepias Asiatic lilies Aster Aster Yellows Audubon-at-Home August 2009 GBBD August 2013 Autumn Autumn Reflections Awards Awesome Azaleas Azalea on Ice;Picture This Photo Contest;Winter's Beauty Azaleas Azealea Back Yard Backyard Bird Series backyard birds Backyard Makeover Bald Eagles Balloon Flower Bee Collage Bee-Balm Bees Bees Busily Buzzing on Blooms Before and After Being Settled berries Big Eyes Bird Collage Bird Conversations Bird Itch Birdfeeding Birds Birds Before Blooms Birthday Books Black Swallowtail Black Swallowtail Butterflies Black Swallowtail butterfly cats Blackeyed Susan Bleeding Heart Blog Anniversary Blogger blogging blogging friends Blogiversary Blooming Friday Blotanical Blotanical awards Blotanical's 2009 Best Virginia Award Blue Blooms Bluebeard Bluebird Bluebird Fledglings Bluebird in Snow Botanical Interests Boulder Bouquet of the Month:April 2010 Bouquet of the Month:March 2010 Bright Flowers broad-winged damselfly Brown Creeper Brunnera Buddleia Bugbane Bulbs BulbsSproutinginPot Bumblebees Butterflies BUTTERFLIES LIVE Butterfly on Salvia Butterfly weed Calorie-Free Candy Camera-less in April Can You Guess What This Is? Can You Please Identify Me Can't Get Enough Cosmos Cancer Experience Cardinal Cardinal (Female) Cardinal (Male) Cardinal Flower Carolina Wren Carolyn's Shade Gardens Carpenter Bees Carpet Rose Caryopteris Caryopteris x clandonensis Catmint Cedar Waxwing CedarWaxwing celandine poppy Celebrate Your Freedom Cercis canadensis Certified Wildlife Sanctuary Chelone Cherry Blossoms Chickadee Chris McLaughlin Christmas Fern Christmas Rose Chrysanthemum Cicada's Ahead of Schedule Cicada's May 2009 Cicadas May 2013 Cinquefoil Clematis CobraHead Collage Collages Columbine Common Buckeye Common Whitetail dragonfly Composter Coneflower Containers Cooper's Hawk Coral Red Honeysuckle Coreopsis Corona Corydalis Cosmos Covered Hellebore Plants Cozy and Warm Cranberrybush Vibernum Crepe Myrtle Crested Iris Crocus Crocus 'Romance' Crow Cut Flowers From My Garden Cutleaved Coneflower Daffodil Daffodils dainty blue flowers Dayflower Daylilies December 2010 December Birds Deer Poop Desert Island Plant Challenge Desperate for Color on Bloom Day Devastation in the Garden Devotion Dicentra Digitalis purpurea Does This Outfit Make Me Look Fat? Dogs Dragonflies Dragonfly or Damselfly Dried Blooms ducklings Dutchman's Breeches Dwarf Nandina Dwarf Sumac e-Bird e.e.cummings e.e.cummings:i thank You God for most this amazing Earth Day Eastern Bluebird Eastern Comma butterfly Eastern Redbud Eastern Tiger Swallowtail eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly Ebony Jewelwing Echinacea Elderberry Emily Dickinson End of the Line Epimedium Euphorbia Evening Primrose facebook Faith Fall Color Project Feasting on Seeds Feb 2010 GBBD Feb 2010 monster storm Feeling Blue Feeling Blue? Finch Fire Pink First Day of April First Snow First Snowfall Project Fiskars Flame Azalea Flat Tire Basket Flick'r photo large sizes Floral Collages Focal Black and White photo Foliage-Followup Forsythia Fourth of July Foxglove Foxy in November Free Will Friends Fritillaria Frozen Blooms Galanthus Garden Garden Blessings Garden Blogger Bloom Day:November 2008 Garden Blogger Muse Day November 2009 Garden Blogger Muse Day:December 2008 Garden Blogger's Bloom Day:January 2009 Garden Bloggers Garden Bloggers Bloom Day Garden Bloggers Muse Day Garden Bloggers Muse Day (April 2009) Garden Bloggers Operation Christmas Child Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day Garden Bloggers' Muse Day: June 2009 Garden Books Garden Give Away Garden Give Aways Garden Give-Aways Garden Product Give Away Gardening Gone Wild photography contest Gardening Nude Gardening-by-Letter project GardenShoesOnline Garter Snake Ingests Toad GBBD Febrary 2009 GBBD July 2009 GBBD June 2010 GBBD March 09 GBBD:December 2008 GBMD May 2009 GBMD:January 2009 Geese in a Row--and Ducks too Giant Hyssop Give-Away Winner Gladiola Gloves Go Native Goblins and Pumpkins and Snakes oh my God in the Garden Golden Groundsel Goldenglow Goldenrod Goldfinch Goodbye March Graham Rice Gramma's Afghan Grapes Grasshopper Grateful Great Backyard Bird Count Great House Plant Census of 2010 Green and Gold Green Cure fungicide Hairy Woodpecker Happy Father's Day Haven Brand Manure Tea Hawk hawks Heated Birdbath Heather Heliopsis Heliotrope Hellebore Hellebore Collage HelleboreHover Hellebores Hellebores Book Give-Away Helleborus Helleborus niger Help Identify Animal Tracks Henry David Thoreau: Hepatica Heron Heuchera High School Orchestra Concert Highbush Blueberry Hip Mountain Mama Holiday Stress Holiday stress: How Much is Self-Imposed Holly Honored and Humbled Hornworms House Finch Hummingbird Clearwing Hyacinth Hyacinths Hylotelephium I Am Truly Thankful! I'm a bit Bee-hind Iberis Ice on Stream Ice Storm Ilex Impatiens Indentifying Butterflies Iris Iris reticulata It's Here Its Grown On Me Jacob's Ladder January 2010 snow January 2011 January 2013 Japanese Anemone Joe Pye Weed John Keats July garden 2010 Junco June 19th 2009 Just Be Gardens Kerria Kerria-Japanese Rose Keter Dynamic Composter Kombi Ladybird Johnson Lake Anna Lake Anna June 2009 Lake Vacation Lamium Lantana Late to the Party Again lavender Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden Leyland Cypress Liatris Life Experiences Light Lilac Bush Limestone Liriope Liverwort Lobelia Lonicera sempervirens Luna the Greyhound Lungwort Lyme Disease Lyme Disease has gone to my Head Macro in a Mason Jar Mallard ducks March Birthday Bloggers March GBBD mention master gardener May 2010 May Apple Meaning Memorial Day 2010 Memories Mertensia Mid Summer's Eve Mid-June Blooms MidMarch Blooms and Foliage Milkweed Miniature Dachshund mishmash wednesday Mistflower Mites Monarchs Monarchs and Milkweed Monarda Monkshood Monthly Garden Bouquet Moon More April Bouquets Morning Light Mountain Laurel Mourning Doves MuhlyGrass Mums Muscari Muscle My Cat Smokie My Daughter My Dog James My Family My FIRST Enlarged Photo My Husband My Mother My Son My Yard Mystery Tracks Nandina Nandina berries National Cherry Blossom Festival Native Ginger Native Honeysuckle native plants Natural Habitat Nepata New York Fern Non-Natives Northern Flicker Not The Best Notecards November 2009 GBBD Now that's an 'ice picture Obedient Plant Oct 2008 GBBD Almost Ready Oct 2009 October 2009GBBD Of Gloves and Shovels Oh Say Can You See Okay so who or what is eating my plants Oliver Herford:I Heard a Bird Sing Operation Christmas Child Pain Management Techniques Pansies Pansy paperwhites Pay It Forward Project Pay-It-Forward gift-giving exchange Peanut Feeder Peonies by Mary Oliver Peony Perennials Perennials in my garden Perovskia Personal Poetry Personal Poetry: Petunia Phlox Phlox paniculata photo contest Photography Contests phytoplasma Pieris Pieris Japonica Pileated Woodpecker Pine Siskin Pink Azalea Pink Peony Planting Natives Plants on Ice Poetry Pollinators Polymonium Pond Critters Poppy Potentilla Potomac River Pretty Pink Peony Has Popped Prize Winners Product Reviews Project FeederWatch Pulmonaria Pumpkin Carving Purple Coneflower Purpose Questionmark butterfly radishes Rain Rain Barrel Rainbarrel Rainbow Project Rainy Days Raspberry and Lemon Sherbet Reasons I Garden red admiral Red Winged Blackbird Red-Bellied Woodpecker Red-Spotted Purple Red-winged Blackbird Redbud Relaxing Remember Renee's Garden Revised GBBD February 15 Richmond VA Robert Frost Robin Robin'sNestingPlace Rock Soapwort Rock Solid RockSoapwort Roly-Poly Squirrel Rose hips Roses Roses with Thorns Rosy Maple Moth Rudbeckia Rudbeckia lanciniata Russian Sage S.A.D. Salvia Salvia greggi Samuel Taylor Coleridge:The Nightengale Sanguinaria Scilla Seagulls Seasonal Affective Disorder Security Blanket Sedum Sedum Autumn Joy Seed Planting Experiment Seed Starter System Seed-Planting Experiment#1 Seed-Planting Experiment#2 Seed-Planting Experiment#2 (cont.) Seeds Sense of Humor September blooms September Blooms:A Series of Surprises September Surprises #3 Serviceberry Shades of Blue Shady Gardener:Gladsome Be? sharing Sharp-shinned Hawk Shawna Coronado Shirl's Garden Watch Siberion Buglose Skink Slaty Skimmer dragonfly Snake Snake skin Snow Snow in Spring Snowdrop Anenome Snowdrops Snowstorm Solomon's Seal Sounds of the Birds Speedwell Spicebush Swallowtail Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly cats spicebush swallowtail caterpillar Spider Webs Spiderwort sprained ankle Spring Buds and Bulbs Spring Has Sprung Spurge Squirrel Squirrels stainless steel water bottle Standard Poodle Starling Steam on Fence Strawberries Succulents Summer Flowers SunRays Sunrise Sustainable Living project Swallowtail Butterflies Sweaters Hoods and Coats Sweet Allysum Sweet William Teacup and Teapot Tete-a-Tete Thank You to Phillip Thanksgiving The Best Christmas Gifts The Complete Idiot's Guide to Composting The Gardener's Guide to Growing Hellebores The GGW photo contest I 'almost' entered on time The Multi-Hued Greens of Spring The Ocean The Seed Keeper Company The Sun Shines at Night The Thrush This Ain't No April Fools Joke This aMayzing Day Thyme Tiarella Titmouse Toad Lily Tools Toulouse goose Tradescantia Tree Sparrow Trees Trillium Trout Lily Tufted Titmouse Tulips Tulips in Spring Tulips on Thursday Turtle Crossing turtle garden Turtlehead TX-Bluebonnet Umbrella VA Gardener Magazine Valentine's Display variegated foliage Verbena Veronica Vinca Violas Virginia Bluebells Virginia Gardener Magazine Wake Robin Walt Whitman:Miracles Washington DC Water Fountain Water Garden Waterfall/Stream WBBS Wednesday Words Weeping Willow West County Gardener What Are You Waiting For What d'ya think Janet What's Happening? What's New in November White Embden geese White Peony White-Breasted Nuthatch Wild Geranium Wild Ginger Wildflower Wednesday Wildflowers Will the Real Turtle Please Come Out William Wordsworth William Wordsworth:The Daffodil's Willow Leaved Sunflower Window; Death; Personal Photography Winter I Am So Over You Winter is for the Birds Winter Light Winter Solstice winter storm slide-show Winter Walk-Off 2014 Winterberry Witch Hazel Woodfern Woodland Pinkroot Woodpecker WORDLESS Friday Wordless Wednesday: Wren X-Rated Yellow but not Mellow Yesterday and Today Zinnia Zinnia Bud (Plan B)