As a follow-up to the post a week ago showing motherhood and goslings on our pond, I looked for the goose family when walking the path to the river near our house. https://www.postworksavvy.com/motherhood-on-our-pond/
Three or four adult geese swam in the sunshine. As they approached the marshy area near the edge, a noisy skirmish arose. I watched a large male give chase. I surmised that the goslings must be in the marshy area as the gander usually vigorously defends the young.
As the other geese flew toward the safety of the river, I spotted the five goslings swimming in the shallow water!
Google tells me that they don’t have feathers at one week of age but oil from the mother’s feathers gives protection in the cold water. They look comfortable as they learn to swim. It’s remarkable that all five goslings survived.
In the next photo, the geese are leaving the water and moving into the grassy area of the marsh.
The goslings have almost doubled in size during their first week of life.
As I wrote in the previous post, it’s remarkable how their colouring allows them to blend so well with the natural setting.
It’s Mother’s Day in Canada. In celebration of motherhood, I’ll end this post with a photo of Mother Goose keeping watch over her brood while her goslings feast in the delicate spring marsh grass.
