Click on the pictures for a closer view.I'm curious. Do other communities have flocks of waterfowl that don't fly south for the winter? We have a large flock of semi-tame ducks and geese that never fly south. Some have said it's because they are fed too much white bread by park visitors, so they are too fat to fly south. Possibly it's because they get so much "free food" that they see no need to leave. At any rate, they spend their time flying back and forth between the various ponds and lakes in the city all winter long.
We have a creek here named Salt Creek that actually has salt water. That means it doesn't freeze at all during the winter. That is an added treat for the silly waterfowl that stick around. They actually get water to swim in, instead of sitting on top of the ice, like they would in the other bodies of water around town, which freeze at least sporadically all winter. It's so strange to see so many geese in a creek.The bottom picture is cropped to give you an idea of the size of the flock. I can't tell for sure, but I estimate there are several hundred. Any comments? I'd love to hear if other communities have flocks like this.
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I have lived in several areas wher we have "resident geese" that never migrate. They do not see the nee dif the food supply is sufficient I guess!
ReplyDeleteI live in IN, and there are always geese that stick around. Mostly ones that live on private lakes or ponds, I think.
ReplyDeleteWe them too but we're pretty far south. They never leave though.lol
ReplyDeleteHi Marcia!
ReplyDeleteI read your whole blog this morning. Whew! I came over to peek after seeing you on the Iditarod boards. So I'm curious how long you and your kids have followed the race? What are your plans for this year's race? And who will you all follow?
As for the geese.... Good grief! We have them EVERYWHERE! We live in central Virginia, and I guess that's South enough for them ....LOL! We live extremely close to a big pond, and trust me, you gotta watch where you step. Kwim?
Anyway, I enjoyed reading this morning. I'll definitely be back to check up on you all. And I'm going to run some of those riddles by my little guy, even though he'll never get them on his own. He's not very good at riddles, but he enjoys them after they've been explained. :-)
Robin,
ReplyDeleteWelcome to my blog. I'm glad you enjoyed it. We've followed the race since the year Mitch Seavy won. I think that was 2003. But now that my girls are teenagers, they aren't as interested in the race, sadly. This year some friends and I are presenting a unit on Iditarod for our homeschool group, so I hope to gain some new Iditabuddies. I always cheer for Dee Dee because I admire her tenacity, I like the way she cares for her dogs, and I appreciate and share her Christian faith. However, this year I have a feeling Paul Gebhardt is going to win, because he has good strategy and he came in second last year.
We live in Nebraska, so it is strange to have geese still here. It was 3 below zero this morning! Sheesh! I guess it helps me relate to the mushers.
Well, they look like Canadian geese from your photo, in which case they ARE south for the winter. They'll head back to Canada in the spring. We had tons of them in Colorado. You definitely had to be careful where you stepped.
ReplyDeleteI checked in my bird book, and sure enough -- the Canada geese do fly south to Nebraska for the winter. In that case, they really ARE silly. They need to fly a bit further to really get a relief from winter. (Some do fly further, but these obviously decided to stop here.) The strange thing is that the Canada geese are here in the summer too. Maybe they're too silly or fat to fly NORTH for the summer. LOL. According to the bird book, some mallard ducks are year-round residents here. I learned something new today.
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