Canada Geese Beach Party

We saw an unusual sight this past Saturday afternoon at Ouabache State Park. The few times we'd been there before, we had not seen even one Canada goose. That's unusual enough because they are very numerous around here.

On Saturday, though, there were at least a couple of dozen of them on the small lake at the park; and they had turned the lake into a sort of gigantic communal birdbath. They were slapping their wings against the water, diving, rolling, splashing, and flapping. The noise of it could be heard all the way around the lake. We don't know how long the activity had been underway before we arrived, but we watched it for about a half hour.

Then, as if by some signal, the geese all moved to the shore, where they spent another half hour or so pruning themselves. By the time they had finished that and moved onto the grassy area, where they rested or fed for the rest of the time that we were there, feathers were covering the surface of the lake.

Must you point that camera at a fella when he's bathing?

Then this pair of ducks showed up.

 

They seemed an unlikely pair, but they WERE a pair. Can you see the little white string that is dragging behind the white duck? It was stuck to him some way and seemed to be troubling him. But he wouldn't let me close enough to try to help him.