On instinct I took a turnoff to take a shortcut, and then we saw this.
The dam is in a cul-de-sac, and we visited the dam about 3 years ago. This time round there was a lot of birdlife at the dam, and my camera was very happy. So, I slammed on the breaks and got out of the car to take some shots of the cute little goslings. There were 8 of them and I guess that they are about 2 or 3 weeks old. Normally the Egyptian geese have between 10-14 babies and so obviously they have already lost a few here to predators.
The little ones have to survive in the open and I scanned the high trees at the dam to see if there were any predator birds around, but thankfully none. That doesn't mean to say they are not around at other times, as this was late afternoon and then of course there are always the predators at night. The main danger being the house cats, also owls and other nighttime hunters. So yes, the babies have to survive many attacks and we hope that all 8 will survive somehow.
In any case, come and see the adventure.
A lovely line of them as I stepped up to the edge of the dam.
But the mom saw me and she started to make her way closer to the babies.
And there they were, all secure with the mom.
Here below she led them out on to the bank of the dam.
The little babies started running around, but the guineafowls also kept an eye on them.
Now here was real danger, as the dad arrived from out of nowhere and he made his way threateningly towards me. I have been attacked by male geese a few times before and I hurriedly made my way back to the safety of the car. Lol.
As I opened the car door, the gang of guineafowls also arrived to see me off, and the dad was watching me with an angry eye, so as if to say get away from my babies.
But the story didn't end here, and I will show you the rest of it in another post. All that I can say at this stage is that we were mightily surprised and happy to see all of this. There were also other birds at the dam that I will show you, and it also includes the parents and babies. Different species but all living like a community at the dam. One of the locals came out to his car and he greeted me. I was glad to hear that they also like the birds at the dam.
This made me think of taking a tour of all the old places where we have been before as it seems that there is a constant change of wildlife at the dams, hills, and rivers. We are now almost out of the winter season and the blossoms on the trees already think that spring season has started. But not yet, as winter normally lasts until the end of August and beginning of September. Somebody needs to tell the trees that. But yes, the weather is upside down here, as last winter we had the same scenario of an early spring.
Such is life.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.
Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.
Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.
Until next time, cheers!
