October 2014

October 2014
Day Trip to Oakridge Oct 2014

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

The Goslings Are Out

The world can be a scary place for fuzzy little goslings, just starting out.  Even getting into the pond can be a little intimidating.
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It’s really not so bad once you get used to it.
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But then there are those scary things that just sit around…waiting….
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…and looking very hungry.
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And don’t even mention the big scary things that fly overhead.
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It’s enough to make a body want to bury its head in the sand…errr…water.
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Darn, water in the ears again! 
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But mom and dad are ever vigilant to protect their young.
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And that’s life in the springtime on the Delta Ponds.  The End.
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All pictures tonight courtesy of Russ Krecklow, except the soaring osprey – that’s mine!!  In the interest of full disclosure, I did change the background on the osprey as the dull gray sky was just too, well, DULL!  The sky shot was taken the same day, just a little break in the clouds.

19 comments:

  1. Life is so precarious for all those little critters who are born in the spring.... it always makes me so sad to count 10 goslings one day... 8 the next.... 6 or 5.... and really makes me thankful that I got my 2 human critters past that stage... not saying that at 50 and 49 mine are safe and sound... but at least they're as safe and sound as I could help them be. Always makes me wonder a bit about just how much mama goose or mama duck actually feels about raising those young'uns.

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    1. I was a little sad to see only two babies in this particular family - I'm quite certain they started out with more!! I can only hope that ducks and geese live in the moment and don't realize how many of their babies are lost. How sad that would be for them. My oldest chick will be 47 in a few days and I still worry about her (and the rest of the flock!!).

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  2. When our geese would have babies you would pick them up and they would stretch out their little necks and just talk to you. Goslings are just the sweetest, but don't date make mom and dad mad, they can deliver a vicious bite. Love the pictures and captions...

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  3. What a wonderful, beautiful post. I love all those pictures. Those babies are the sweetest things. The world is tough for all little ones.

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  4. Those tiny goslings are so adorable. I remember visiting an old mill one and watching them take to the water the first time ... so precious. Good job with the sky ... wouldn't have known you did anything to it if you hadn't owned up to it ;-)

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  5. I remember a pond of ducks that we watched one spring. One by one the little ones disappeared. They were so cute it broke our hearts. It's the way of life, I guess, as difficult as it is to understand. Seeing the turtles made me thing of a documentary I recently watched where the little tiny ones race for the sea right after breaking out of their shells. They were being protected, but once in the water they were on their own, and who knows how many out of 150 eggs will survive.

    As always, the photographer and the writer work in unison to prepare a delightful blog. :)

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  6. Kuddos to Russ!!! What a great blog. I'll be down to the river tomorrow aft to see how the goslings and ducklings are going. Donna how did you alter the sky?

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    1. I cut the bird from the original photo and pasted it into the sky photo. A little more complicated than it sounds but not too hard.

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    2. I used PhotoShop to do the editing.

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  7. You two work well together. I enjoyed seeing the blue sky, even if it WAS fake.

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  8. a great day for the birds! glad that you were able to get out and enjoy the break in the weather!!

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  9. I love watching the birds, the geese and all the other wildlife we see.

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  10. Too cute! Never read a blog from an Golsings point of view. I have a new appreciation for those little ones.

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  11. Great pics, Russ, nice job. Sure glad Donna used the bird's butt for "The End" shot and not yours!!

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  12. You are both taking some great photos. Keep it up!

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  13. I wondered what editor you used. I have used Photoshop Elements in the past, but Picasa has made me lazy. Maybe you can get me back into that when we meet up. You did a great job creating a story from those pictures! Maybe you could turn that into a book for kids.

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  14. What precious pictures! Your "school" has done you good! Thanks for sharing the beautiful results.
    Candy

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  15. This is one of the cutest posts I've ever read. The pictures are fantastic and the commentary hilarious. Good job!

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  16. I love your pics of the goslings. They are so cute. But they do grow up very fast.

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