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;-)