Marathons, Fireworks and Spooked Wildlife

Geese begin to gather themselves tightly on the water as fireworks begin to explode in the distance last night.

They swam somewhat frantically back and forth throughout the half hour display.

Fireworks finally coming to an end, the geese breathe a sigh of relief and begin to make their way back to the middle of the water.

 

I am looking very forward to the New York City marathon tomorrow.

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But not because I am running or know or care about anyone who is.

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As the granddaddy of all the other marathons that have permeated Central Park since early spring, it is hoped to finally see the end of them -- at least for a few months.

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But, the NYC marathon is not just a one-day event.

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There are all kinds of other celebrations leading up to it -- including a fireworks display that took place last night.

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I arrived to the Reservoir shortly after 6 PM and was pleased to see some newly arrived migratory geese on the water, in addition to Northern Shovelers, mallards and a variety of other small, water birds in the distance.  

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But, the tranquility of the moment was shortly shattered by exploding lights in the sky and loud, booming noises.

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Apparently fireworks are part of the three day "celebration" as they are with many other CP events from classical music concerts to the welcoming of spring.

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Immediately, flocks of small birds could be seen catapulting from the middle of the water and up into the skies in what was surely panic. Many of the birds flew in frantic circles and others flew out from the Reservoir.

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Though the geese had previously been resting on the water in three separate groups, they immediately honked and gathered themselves tightly together into one large gaggle and made their way to the far north east of the Reservoir -- as far away as they could get from the exploding fires in the sky without actually flying out.

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I watched and followed as the geese honked and wildly swam back and forth in the water, as if uncertain what to do. There were several points I was sure the geese would fly out and flee, but they were ultimately reluctant to do that.

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I am not sure why the geese did not take to the skies, but speculate that there were older geese among the flock who were familiar with fireworks and viewed them as not serious threat. Either that, or the migratory geese may have simply been spent from already having flown hundreds of miles in a day and did not want to fly needlessly and waste energy. Either one or both scenarios in combination are possible.

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After about a half hour, the booms and explosions finally came to an end. Billowing smoke remained and floated up into the skies like that from 1,000 cigarettes.

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One gander was heard honking what probably was some kind of message to the rest that everything was OK and they could finally relax.  

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The geese slowly made their way back to the middle of the water again and began to separate into their familiar groups. There were about 25 geese in all.

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(It should be noted that if the fireworks were terrifying to the birds on the Reservoir, they must have seemed like the end of the world to that wildlife actually closer to them. Fireworks are actually shot from a location near the Boat lake. Perhaps this is just one more reason why we don't have much wildlife in Central Park anymore.)

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Today, I went to the Central Park Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/centralparknyc/?fref=ts. 

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Under their post warning dog owners about the fireworks last night, I posted a comment detailing wildlife observations during the actual fireworks and asked why it is necessary to have fireworks for so many non-related human endeavors? 

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I don't expect an answer.

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But, it's interesting to note that the cover photo for Central Park is not of a actual park, but rather a group of people running.

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I guess that says it all.   -- PCA

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