| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
|
My babies are so ugly now.
.
Almost two months since they hatched as tiny, adorable balls of yellow fluff, the Central Park Reservoir goslings are now at that "awkward" stage between infancy and adolescence.
.
Not quite fully grown, they are long, scrawny necks, tiny heads and big feet. Though quickly growing their adult feathers, there are still tufts of soft down sticking up through the feathers like tiny spikes that refuse to yield. And though starting to acquire the distinct markings of Canada geese and the familiar "face band," the white has yet to take hold and thus the goslings appear a mostly dingy, dirty gray.
.
Han's Christian Anderson's famous, "The Ugly Duckling" was written about swans. But it might have been more accurate as a fairy tale about goslings transitioning to geese.
.
At two months of age, the goslings look like little dinosaurs.
.
The six goslings are not from one family. Three hatched on May 8th and are the offspring of John and Mary -- the goose couple who attempted nesting over the past five years before finally hatching three healthy goslings this spring.
.
The younger three goslings hatched a week later, but got off to a slow start as their mother (Greta) remained on the nest an additional three days (with babies tucked under her) in apparent hopes that her other two eggs would hatch.
.
But, the extra eggs never hatched and finally Greta and her mate, Hansel had to move on with their surviving babies.
.
Shortly thereafter, John and Mary moved their family to the east side of the Reservoir to seemingly join up with Hansel, Greta and their three new fledglings.
.
Though the two families don't necessarily hang out with each other all the time, they do claim and share the same general territories and are frequently observed eating together.
.
Being slightly bigger and more developed than their younger counterparts, John and Mary's brood are sometimes a bit bullying of Hansel and Greta's babies. It's not unusual to see them assert their dominance by occasionally pecking and chasing the younger goslings.
.
The parenting styles of the adult geese are not exactly the same either.
.
Perhaps because they have raised goslings before, Hansel and Greta are much more laid back and permissive with their offspring than are the first-time parents, John and Mary -- the latter never leaving their babies out of their sight.
.
By contrast, Hansel and Greta's kids wander all over and it's not unusual for one to lose sight of his/her parents and start to cry out. But, they always find each other in the end.
.
Perhaps this is still another way geese are remarkably human-like. Parenthood, when repeated, seemingly becomes like old hat. Hansel and Greta don't sweat the small stuff. If one of the kids wanders off, they find their way back. On the other hand, John and Mary are never more than a foot or two away from their goslings and always have their eyes fixed on them.
.
Both, John and Hansel do however, take turns trying to chase off the visiting geese who arrived at the Reservoir around Memorial Day for the six week molt.
.
But at this point, it is mostly a fruitless effort as both ganders are highly outnumbered by the visiting interlopers.
.
Though there is still the occasional territorial spat, the two families have mostly grown to accept the intruders. Perhaps they figure now that the molt is quickly coming to an end soon and the annoying "guests" will be on their way. It's just a matter of waiting it out.
.
Probably due to the warm winter of the past year, everything was a little earlier this year.
.
Migrating geese returned earlier to their breeding grounds in the sub-Arctic or Canada this year. Nesting was slightly earlier and so was the molt.
.
I see that many, if not in fact, most of the visiting geese already have grown their flight feathers.
.
They will wait of course until they all are ready to fly and will then take off.
.
The two families however have to wait until their goslings are ready to fly before they can leave.
.
July will be a busy month with much of the action occurring over the next few weeks.
.
I somewhat sadly anticipate that by early August, all of the geese will be gone and we will only be seeing the occasional fly overs passing through.
.
It's a long stretch then until the migratory geese start passing through New York City beginning in late October.
.
As I so often say to people admiring the geese at the Reservoir, "Enjoy the geese now, for in a few weeks, all will be gone."
.
Virtually everything in a Canada goose's life is preparation for flight and moving on.
.
Only during this in-between stage from babies to juveniles, the goslings are "the ugly ducklings."
.
But soon to be (God willing) beautiful and magnificent geese gracing our skies and flying in perfect "V" formation with their eternally devoted parents.
.
Peace forever be with them. -- PCA
.
.
.
***********
No comments:
Post a Comment