At the cove, the female of a pair of Canada geese without offspring swims among the pilings feeding on the algae, while her mate stands above the beach on a small concrete platform just inside the fence separating the walkway from the river environs. Suddenly, the cry of a gosling in distress sounds across the water, as a small yellowish ball of fluff proceeds rapidly over the surface in the direction of the exposed beach. The male honks once, then once again more loudly, and flies off toward the call. He lands at the water’s edge as the gosling, one of the youngest brood, struggles ashore, collapsing just out of reach of the incoming tide. With the gosling falling silent, having attained a perceived safety, the male, standing near, starts in on a thorough preening.
The exhausted gosling sprawls on the beach, its neck drooping and its head falling first left, then right, on to the wet sand. After some minutes, the gosling totters away from the approaching tide to an algae-covered rock, where it begins nibbling. Succumbing to fatigue, the gosling lets its head fall until its bill rests on the rock. Waking, the gosling feeds once more, more energetically. Soon the female goose, still feeding, swims to the pilings closer to the gosling, which springs up, races across the sand, and speedily paddles toward her, only to be attacked by her as it approaches. Swimming away, the gosling takes up nibbling algae on one piling after another.
Meanwhile, among the pilings on the farther side of the pier marking the northern margin of the cove, the gosling’s parents and four siblings are scattered about feeding. At one point, the male begins honking, and first one gosling appears, then his mate, and finally the three remaining goslings. The family moves to the pier itself, foraging among the supports, proceeding along the length of the pier, not swimming under it and traversing its width.
Back on the near side of the pier, even though they both ignore the gosling, it stops feeding to follow the pair of geese toward the riprap of the southern pier, in the direction away from its family. Fortunately, the adult geese turn around and head straight for the northern pier, the gosling trailing behind. The pair enter the area under the pier, followed by the gosling, which almost immediately loses track of them. As the gosling utters his distress call, it is amplified in the low-ceiling space beneath the pier, and is carried to his family on the other side. Hearing the cry, both parents become agitated, pulling back their necks, than thrusting them forward. The male honks loudly, then even louder. The gosling’s call increases in volume, as it frantically swims toward the male’s honking. Suddenly, amid the two adult geese and four goslings a fifth gosling appears and life returns to normal.
Posted at: 08:35 PM | Add Comment
