I hope you, like me, enjoy the quote from the July nature calendar – the locale is the Dolomites Mountains in northeastern Italy.
Although I cannot state that I have witnessed a thousand miracles in nature, I will say that this Spring I must have witnessed a thousand geese and goslings, so I hope you are not “goslinged out” yet because there will be a few more. In fact, this sentence will segue into my first family photo.
Cheaper by the Dozen.
Well, May 14th was Mother’s Day, so it was appropriate that I should step out of my car and see a family of Canada Geese with a dozen goslings surrounding them. I hustled over to take photos, despite knowing that the camera card was jam-packed with umpteen gosling shots already. [Of course there would be more geese and their offspring before I put the camera away and hopped back into the car to drive home.]
I changed things up a bit.
I usually begin my walks on the other side of Lake Erie Metropark, with a visit with Luc, but given the dredging and heavy machinery mess from April, I planned to walk the three-mile shoreline along Cove Point instead. It was a chilly, grayish day and very windy.
But first, I headed around the bend to the path that takes me to the wooden overlook that crosses one of many marshes at this park.
Sometimes there are people fishing off that walkway/deck but that day I had the overlook to myself. The marsh area is where the Barn Swallows hang out and I hoped to get some photos of them swooping and diving or chattering away to each other, but … they must have been sleeping in or building nests beneath the overlook.
The marsh had not greened up and was still dull and lifeless looking.
Do you remember this tree with its unusual “design” which I learned from several of you was “beetle graffiti” – well it remains near the overlook and a regal-looking Red-winged Blackbird perched on top and posed just for me. (Ya, right – I was just lucky that he happened by and needed a perch.)
In the distance, this bedraggled-looking heron was standing knee-deep in the lagoon. Though I didn’t see it spear any fish, it was studying the water very intently.
A beautiful Mute Swan paddled by, a graceful touch of color, albeit white, in the lagoon.
I began my trek along Cove Point where by mid-July through August the American Water Lotuses will be at peak blooming time so I will return to capture that beauty.
This tree looks a little forlorn doesn’t it?
The picnic tables were in place but evidently Mom was dining in a restaurant and hopefully not cooking a meal on her special day. I actually saw no people on my entire 90-minute walk along Cove Point.
The trees along Cove Point had already leafed out and the grass was green, so it was a little more colorful here. The wooden walkway/overlook you see in the background of the second photo was where I just left.
These Canada Geese were relaxing and seemingly unmindful of my presence. (Or maybe they just chose to ignore me.)
I doubled back onto that path, then peered into this waterlogged gulley for Spring Peepers, but had no luck today.
Perhaps the Peepers, like the Swallows, were visiting their moms today?
The Trenton Channel Power Plant and its smokestacks, a/k/a the “Trenton Stacks” continue to mar the view of any of my roams along the Detroit River and Lake Erie. The phasing out of this coal-burning plant began in the Summer of 2022 and by the end of last year, the coal reserves were finally depleted. The power plant and its striped stacks will remain for now as no plans have been made for the land.
The waves were very choppy, not from the wake of any freighters or pleasure boats, but simply from the wind. These were my favorite shots of those big waves. …
I got a kick out of two Mallards surfing the waves like pros, despite getting submerged a couple of times.
I arrived at the Marina and … you guessed it … there were more geese.
Birds behaving badly.
These geese and their offspring were having a sit-down across from the Marina until I encroached on their space. Soon Papa Goose was herding his offspring over to the marsh and lagoon, with Mama Goose bringing up the rear. They left in such a hurry, at one point Papa Goose turned around to count beaks. One gosling glared at me, clearly miffed I had interrupted its nap.
They paddled away so quickly that soon they were just a blur behind this fallen tree in the lagoon. Really? I was sorry I had that effect on them!
While I was gawking at the geese, a Robin was singing away. When I looked up at my cheery feathered friend, it gave me a side-eye glare as if to say “so now that the geese are gone, I am good enough to photograph?” and quickly gave me the cold shoulder.
A pair of miserable-looking Mallards didn’t give off any friendly vibes to me … or to each other, for that matter.
Likewise, an egret took to the skies. I vowed not to take this bad bird behavior personally.
At the Marina I searched for some unusual boat names, but found none. The sailboats were lined up in rows awaiting their owners and an afternoon trip on Lake Erie, but it was not to be.
I turned around and headed back to the car. As I drove out of Lake Erie Metropark, I thought I glimpsed a pair of Sandhill Cranes. So perhaps the trio of Sandhill Cranes I saw last year were not an anomaly after all. I parked the car at the offshore fishing lot and hurried toward them. There was a large field that separated the Cranes from me, a field growing wild with untamed grass and tangled brush. I did not want to risk returning with ticks, so I captured the pair from afar. Those photos will be in this week’s Wordless Wednesday post because this is already so picture-laden.
I promised myself I would return next month and I did, on Father’s Day this time. I had a wonderful encounter with a deer and saw an Osprey and its nest, some egrets and a new bird, one from my Birdie Bucket List! I did not see the latter in real time, but only saw it on the screen and I did a double-take. Those will be Monday/Wednesday posts the first week of August, so please stay tuned.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
Lovely pics!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Kate.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a great park to walk in, so much wildlife to see and photograph!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, it was a good day Susan – so many goslings, so little time. 🙂 I was bummed I couldn’t get closer to the Sandhill Cranes, but we have so many ticks, it wasn’t worth it. Now it is suggested we spray with Deet and wear long sleeves and pants as several incidents of EEE mosquito disease have been reported.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh no! That sucks. And it’s so hot here this it’s not great to bundle up to take a walk. We have a lot of ticks in our area
LikeLiked by 1 person
We wait so long for Summer to arrive, now this. You at least have your bug-fighting gear you have shown us in photos, but on days like today, 90 F (32 C), it is way too muggy to suit up like that.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The robin with the cold shoulder had me thinking, “Maybe birds are cold-blooded after all” 🙂 I can never get enough pictures of the families of geese, and Mom and Dad make for perfectly placed bookends. I’ll bet the sounds of the choppy water against the rocks were relaxing. Finally, if I hadn’t Googled “spring peeper” I would’ve assumed it was just another bird you were searching for. A new term on me!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I find all our robins have surly attitudes Dave – their cheerful singing belies they are usually grumpy. I see a robin scowling if you are approaching a worm faster than it can get to it. I imagine a thought bubble “Mine, mine, mine!” I never tire of seeing the goslings either. I will have more goslings in my Ford Estate outing, but will do just the lilacs first next week, then the rest of the Ford Estate the following week. Plus I still have a 5K where I have goslings only as my post (for the March of Dimes March for Babies). I like them too, plus the baby ducklings … I got some of those cute ducklings coming up end of the month. I have to make a grid to stagger the posts so they are not too similar. The water was relaxing and natural as not a freighter nor pleasure boat to be seen. The ducks were probably getting seasick and/or water in their lungs gulping water – they were submerged multiple times. A fellow blogger, Laurie, lives in Pennsylvania. She is a birder. Laurie and her husband are avid runners and the first time she said “the spring peepers are out – Bill and I saw them this morning on our run” I thought it was birds. So I also had to Google only to learn it was tiny frogs singing their hearts out every Spring. A chorale group of amphibians. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
birds can be so flighty Linda, so I wouldn’t take their cold shoulder seriously.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, they are Wayne – I was just being funny as so many birds in a row were giving me the cold shoulder and it was not like they were sick of humans because I was the only one there. The goslings learn those antics from their parents early on – I often see the goslings shoot me a dirty look if I get too close to them. It makes me smile as sometimes the stare is accompanied by a hiss and teeny wings flapping.
LikeLiked by 1 person
These are all beautiful. I love seeing a Red-winged Blackbird when walking.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Dan – I am always grateful to see and hear the Red-winged Blackbirds in March. Then I know Spring can’t be far off. There are lots of males showing off their colors in this marshy park.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Linda, my Colorado daughter-in-law is a forester with the state. She and my son have some flooring made from reclaimed wood with the beetle tracks in it like you pictured the red-winged blackbird sitting on. It is beautiful and unusual.
Can’t wait to read which bird you added to your bucket list!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I would imagine that flooring would be quite unique Laurie. These etchings are deep, embedded where bark would be – that makes me wonder if the beetle graffiti caused the tree to die?
As to my “new bird” you’ll be surprised, as was I, as I stared at it in real time and just thought it had a bad feather day. Plus it was a female, so its drab colors gave me no clue. I was excited when I saw it on the screen. That was a great day – the Osprey from the fire station standing guard near its nest, a beautiful doe encounter in the woods. A fun walk.
LikeLike
I will gladly stay tuned. I always enjoy your posts.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Anne – that was a fun Father’s Day walk for me. I will have that as my August 7th post. I’ve been trying to have Lake Erie Metropark for my featured calendar page (which idea I borrowed from Ruth) and go once a month as weather permits.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Fab photos, Linds! What a nice walk, no people in 90 minutes? I like that. Love the pics and especially the goose family, wow that is a lot of goslings!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Terri – I guess I can’t have too many gosling pics. I know they all may look alike at first glance, but still are fun to photograph. That is the most same-size goslings I’ve ever seen with one set of parents. I will have a post coming up about a virtual 5K I did for March for Babies and will have just goslings and I saw a blended family. It was interesting because since I walk there nearly every day, I watch the goslings grow up, then they paddle away with their parents as the parents need a safe place from land predators while they await their molting to be done and new flight feathers to come in. Anyway, one set of parents had goslings of different sizes – two I believe were at least several weeks older, already gray colored with big feet, not tiny with the yellow color. I saw them daily – same family. It couldn’t have been that they hatched that much sooner … but they were raising them as their own. I like when I’m the only one at any park … when I returned here on Father’s Day, it was also very quiet.
LikeLiked by 1 person
An interesting place to walk, with lots of bird sightings. Looking forward to seeing more.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Rebecca. I will do the next Lake Erie Metropark for the calendar page the first Monday in August.
LikeLike
How nice to have the place to yourself (without other humans, that is). The goslings are adorable. I saw some older ones one the river below my house today. Four adults and three young did not seem like a good ratio.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was wonderful Eilene – being the sole human at the park meantno one spooking the wildlife as they whiz by on a bicycle or making loud noises. Those goslings are so sweet when they are young – then they grow up and have a lot of attitude. You’re right about that ratio – it does not seem good at all.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Miss Linda……………………………I enjoyed the stroll along the Lake Erie shores………..beautiful picture of the robin and I do miss seeing swans and egrets……………………………thank you for my memory lane at Erie Park……..my favorite too
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad you liked your stroll down memory lane at Lake Erie Metropark Ann Marie. It was strange to see no one on my entire visit there that day.
LikeLike
What a wonderful park to walk & you capture the birds families , animals & nature. All over interesting blog post. I always enjoyed your post,
Thanks Linda!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad you enjoyed this post Raj!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Welcome!
LikeLiked by 1 person
So many lovely photos you captured. The adorable gang broods are so fun to watch! Thankfully, the parents were happy to pose for photos too. 90 minutes and no other people…that’s odd, isn’t it? Nice for you so you had the whole park to yourself (and the feathered friends). I’m looking forward to seeing the new bird you added to your bucket list. 🥰😁
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Shelley! It was a good walk, all by myself, crossing paths with many geese. I have never seen that many goslings with one set of parents before. Good luck keeping track of them. You’ll be surprised when you see it … it looked nondescript at the marsh and I only discovered it as I saw it on the screen.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree, I can’t imagine keeping track of that many goslings!
I look forward to the reveal!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think the geese are better about keeping track of their goslings than ducks … remember my post about the ducklings that fell down the sewer? The neighbor climbed into two sewers and the animal control officer rescued one or two as well. But the one that the animal control officer rescued was after Mama Mallard tootled off and didn’t count beaks. I learned from Matt who runs the Michigan Duck Rescue and Sanctuary that Mallards Mamas don’t now how many ducklings they have … they just expect them to queue up behind her on land and in water. I hope no one is disappointed at the great reveal – I was amazed I didn’t see it in real time, just on the screen.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s interesting. Maybe their long neck helps them see their offspring better?
Yes, I remember that story. Glad the rescue staff were able to retrieve the little ducklings.
I’m looking forward to the reveal!
LikeLiked by 1 person
After that episode or “poor mothering” I realize geese, for all their histrionics, are really better parents. Hope my big reveal doesn’t disappoint!
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL – I’ve never really thought about it, but you’re right.
I’m sure it won’t!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I loved the red-winged blackbird. A splash of color is welcome in that time of year before things start coming alive. Lake Erie does not look all that welcoming on a cold, windy day.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It always feels like Spring is just around the corner when the red-winged blackbird returns to the marshy areas in the Spring. I was surprised how high the waves were that day – poor ducks kept going under!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Beautiful photos as always. I’m with you on the ticks; my tick phobia is off the charts. I found one on me a few weeks ago. I hope that’s the only one for the year!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Linda. The ticks are bad, mosquitoes too plus we have the worries about getting EEE from mosquitos. I have not had a tick yet thankfully – I do a tick check and goose poop check constantly. This Summer with its weather has me looking forward to Fall more than ever.
LikeLiked by 1 person