Return of the Natives

One goose keeps watch while the other grazes...

... before taking a little nap on a quiet stretch of the river.

Are Canadian geese "natives" even though their name isn't "Vermonter" geese and they don't stick around all year? Well, we're pretty tolerant up here in the North Country, and since the returning geese signal the real onset of Spring and with it the coming of Summer, we certainly won't begrudge them the title of "native". Each year during April and May a few geese stop for a few hours or even a day or two in our yard during their migration North. They graze on what new grass there is, rest up a bit, and then head out. If the goose manure covering most of our lawn is any indication, however, the couple in these pictures apparently liked it here and stuck around for a week or so while we were away on vacation. Once we got back, the dogs quickly showed them the door. Their sojourn reminded us of why the expression "like s..t through a goose" is not only wonderfully descriptive but biologically accurate as well. I wonder, what's the best way to get this stuff off your shoes?

An Osprey Visits the Pond

Moby-Trout lolling around the shallows waiting to be fed and oblivious to the danger above.

In this scene from a trout horror movie, an osprey swoops down.

Dinner.

Breakfast & Lunch

A trip trout tremble at taking.

Osprey are birds of prey that are beautiful, quit large and feed exclusively (I think) on fish. They soar or perch over open bodies of fresh water until they spot a fish (like a trout) just under the surface, and then they dive on the unsuspecting fish, grab it with their talons and fly away to enjoy their meal on some cozy branch. Trout, as you might imagine, are not particularly fond of Osprey. As a birder on the other hand, I really enjoy seeing them as they are not at all common. Imagine my happy surprise then when I saw one swoop seemingly out of nowhere this morning and slam into our pond. Unfortunately (or fortunately if you're a trout) the Osprey came up empty-taloned and flew off in what I can only imagine to be an embarrassed huff. I'm hoping this one little setback won't discourage this beautiful bird from returning. Obviously I don't want it to empty the pond of trout since it's nice to have something for the kids and grandkids to fish. On the other hand it's priceless having a front row seat at this sort of life and death nature show. Well, maybe not priceless. But the trout only cost about $5 a piece, and at those prices, I'm willing to feed the Osprey once a week.

If You Melt It, They Will Come

The pond a week ago.  All of the ice is gone now.

The bufflehead (on left) and the green-winged teal.

Another view.

If you melt the ice the ducks will come that is.  Every year around this time we see migrating ducks land on the pond for a quick rest and pit stop.  Since our pond is rather small, it doesn't attract that many ducks, and I've never seen any particularly unusual ones.  Just the usual suspects of mergansers and mallards.  This morning however I awoke at dawn (closer to 8 o'clock really) to discover an odd assortment of waterfowl on our little body of water.  There was the usual pair of mating mallard.  But there were also two other ducks that I had a terrible time identifying.  After feverishly consulting all of my guides, I came to the conclusion that the other two were a male Bufflehead and a male Green-winged Teal.  This seemed rather odd to me as ducks usually travel in pairs or flocks of the same species.   I leave it to my readers to correct my identification after studying the photos.   I'm guessing these two fellows are just making the trip north together, kind of like weekend bikers, and will rejoin their own kind once they get to their Summer breeding grounds.  We've all noticed that some birds, like the Bufflehead,  have odd names, and you may have wondered where the name "bufflehead" comes from.  Some cursory research led to two possibilities.  "Bufflehead" used to mean dunderhead which is derived from the old Norse word "Tunder" which is where we got our word thunder.  So these ducks are called "Buffleheads" either because they were Thor's favorite duck or they tend to attract lightning.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.