A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to The Pond

My son and I often walk down by the water early mornings. This morning we saw two things we have never seen before. One was a gaggle of geese. I have seen these guys flying south and north and in other cities close to mine but never have I seen them on the ground here.

As we got closer to them, we came upon a nesting of baby mallards. We often see these little ones in a family setting but never have we seen them on their own.

We tried to not get too close to scare them but it was fascinating. The geese didn't seem to be bothering the babies, nor did the babies seem bothered by the geese. As we sat and watched them each doing their own thing, a female mallard came quacking in from the west then suddenly took flight and buzzed over the geese. She kept going. In a minute the geese had obviously broken into two groups, one group took to the water honking then suddenly broke into flight. Another minute later the second group did the same. Luckily I had my camera ready the second time. As amazing as it is to communicate, or try to communicate with wildlife, it is equally amazing to see them communicate with each other.