“Here they come!” I thought to myself as the family of Canadian Geese swam towards the shore. I may even have said it out loud. Possibly I jumped up and down and clapped my hands. They certainly were a procession worthy of celebration.
My dog and I kept our distance on a bench as we watched them climb ashore and dry themselves off.
Then the little ones (although they weren’t that little— more like the size of chickens!) settled in and took a nap while the adults stood guard.
They napped for a good ten minutes. I sat and took pictures. When someone with a very excited dog came a little too close, the adults made some agitated sounds, and the goslings got startled.
The adults ushered the goslings further along the shore. The goslings imitated the actions of their parents.
As they passed by, one of the adults turned to face us, and hissed at us, my dog in particular.
While the gesture was admittedly very daunting, I wasn’t afraid that we would be attacked. Pilot is a very mellow dog and used to being around birds. To me this felt more like an opportunity for the adult to teach a behavior to the young. Nobody was harmed, and the family continued on their way.
That picture cracks me up every time I look at it.
The adults led their young back into the water.
I went back to the park a couple days later to practice action shots of birds in the water. I saw the family on this little island in the pond, wandering through the brush. It looked like a scene from Jurassic Park.
These pictures were taken in the beautiful Laurelhurst Park in Portland, Oregon.
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