The Morning After

After the dramatic wake-up call, I did fall back asleep  for a few hours and awoke later to a morning that was a surprising contrast of calm and beauty unlike the goose cacophony. It was certainly spring in all its elegance!  It was so peaceful.

I picked up the binoculars and went to the window to see the osprey platform, wondering if nothing would be there. My husband had explained that a swipe from a goose neck can be quite painful, so maybe the mistress of the manor had held her ground.  It was so quiet except for some distant gentle bird song.

There she sat in royal elegance clearly keeping some eggs warm in the cool morning air. She seemed placid as any new mother awaiting the arrival of her goslings.  I scanned the skies for osprey and high across the river was one osprey looking for food or a new nesting site?

I assumed the battle had been decided.  I assumed wrong as by mid-morning the sound of geese honking loudly started again.  I went outside on the deck to see what caused this new battle.  I saw 5 or six geese in the river about 100 feet from the platform.  I also saw the noise maker closer to the platform.  It was daddy fighting for territory!

I did not have the tripod, so this distant shot is not sharp!

The male goose, the gander, was very determined that the other geese did not cross some invisible line in the water.  He would start squawking and take after them like a speed boat if they got too close.  This went on for about ten or fifteen minutes until the interlopers decided to move quickly to a safer area on the river.  The female goose just sat on her nest impervious to all that was happening around her.

The rest of the day was somewhat calmer, but while geese had won both battles, the humans were now involved in another.  The osprey had started to land on the top of the boat!  Hubby chased them off.  The next day they returned with sticks!!  Hubby chased them off.  He then went to the store to purchase an osprey device.  $50.00 for a sound machine that you put on the boat that makes a noise like an osprey distress call (I know).  It arrives today.  Next year we will know to go out and make Canadian geese distress calls in the early weeks before all this can start again.