… A Lot of Goose.
These were all photos taken on the first of March in the year of our Lord 2008. GEESE…..
A close up, managed with half zoom and half leaning-over-the-rail-praying-I-didn’t-fall-in-because-the-camera-is-£160-damnit.
Vogue! Saturday, Mar 8 2008
Canada Geese and Goose Park 3:00 am
… look, there are about thirty of these Canada Geese there, fifty and more gullses, maybe twenty or thirty mallards in varying colours… and four coots… I chose to focus on the geese. I do call it Goose Park.
And it does look like it’s posing.
Here’s the thing about this manmade lake. At one end, it goes a foot off groundlevel. So it’s held off by a brick wall. An average brick wall with a bit of concrete against what looks like a lot of water.
Um…
“Am I pretty?” Thursday, Mar 6 2008
Canada Geese and Goose Park 3:00 am
Yes, you are.
Canada geese are very distinctive, by the way. A little smaller than swans, their method of getting into the air is… well, just as ungraceful, although not as awkward as an albatross trying to fly, and their migration is definitely noticeable. When there’s a load of honking boards in a V above your head you tend to notice.
Of course, that’s how I figured they were back. You see, a big flock flew into Maldon whilst mother and I was there – you could hear them all the way across the Blackwater Estuary – and were honking like mad. Since, figures I, they’re back, the ones in Basildon should be, too.
Bow trail. Yes. Wednesday, Mar 5 2008
Canada Geese and Goose Park 3:00 am
Geese leave it. I mean, seriously, there was a goose with half a foot of water up its front, it went so fast!
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/c/canadagoose/index.asp
What they don’t tell you is that they seem to be the most easily tamed wild birds I’ve ever seen. Also just as opportunistic as mallards, with fake swan grace but none of the aristocratic attitude.
It doesn’t really help that they’re just plain pretty, you know?
I’ve been noticing something about waterfowl lately. They seem really intelligent. Maybe it’s the black eye, slant head, gaze-at-human-see-if-there’s-any-bread-in-it-for-me thing.
So, Monday, Mar 3 2008
Canada Geese and Goose Park 3:00 am
I went to Goose Park aka Gloucester Park in Basildon. Yeah.
The next few days worth of pictures, all them goosies and stuff, are from there. Some resizing in paint (other than the usual resize-to-make-it-decent-for-your-screens. The real pictures? HUGE).
Canada Goose information turning up on another post in a few days. There are lots of goose pictures, after all.
Mud. Mud. Thursday, Feb 21 2008
Canada Geese and Maldon 3:00 am
BIRDIES! Water. Mud. Child. Mud. Dog walker. Mud. Mud.
You tend to fall into a pattern like that after a few hours there, yeah.
