… to six months of wonderful weather with lots of walking and photo-taking bliss, but, as we all know, Mother Nature did not cooperate.
It was Easter Sunday when I took this walk, a gorgeous morning which kicked off a week of sunny, beautiful days; in fact, as the week wore on, the temps crept upward until it was in the 80s on Thursday. It seems that this one uncharacteristically hot April day would portend our Summer weather for Southeast Michigan.
This is not the first time I’ve chosen Heritage Park for my Easter Sunday stroll and, as in the past, it was just me meandering the pathways; likely many folks were out of town, at church, or searching for Easter eggs.
I hoped to recapture another magical moment of seeing Mama Goose off her nest, nestling the eggs with her bill and, with a loving touch, plucking feathers from her body to cushion those future goslings as she incubated the eggs.
I did see Mama sitting on a nest and Papa keeping tabs on me, but there were no more memorable moments that day. I returned to Heritage Park a couple of weeks later, to locate and photograph Mama, Papa and their little darlings. How did I know these were the right goslings? Well, she was the only goose sitting on a nest at Easter and this was the only family when I returned. While this park is 149 acres/60 hectares, the Canada Geese keep their goslings close to the water after hatching, so you’ll never find them more than a few yards from Coan Lake.
Here’s what I saw on my Easter morning walk.
As I entered the park there was this chalk art …
… from “The Bunny Bash” that was held the day before at the Petting Farm – someone wanted to spread a little joy to the other side of the park.
West Mound Church was looking good, ready for weddings and now totally repaired after an electrical fire nearly gutted it back in 2020.
While Fall is my favorite season, you sure cannot deny Spring’s beauty as trees and flowers come to life, dabbing colorful spots on the still blah and boring landscape.
Tree leaves had begun to unfurl …
… and the park’s many Pear trees had erupted into beautiful blossoms.
Even these bright-yellow dandelions did their part to deliver a splash of color.
As mentioned above, I went to the covered bridge to check on Mama Goose, who yearly alternates nesting in the boulders on the left or right side just past the bridge. This year it was perilously close to the edge – yikes!
Papa eyed me suspiciously, interrupting his preening ritual to check me out.
Evidently I passed muster, even upside down. 🙂
This male Mallard was resplendent with his iridescent green head glistening in the sunshine.
My walk around Coan Lake and the historical area did not yield many photos, so I ambled off in search of more photo ops.
Early bloomers at the Botanical Gardens.
While the early bulb bloomers were pretty, the Garden’s archway was stunning as usual as its 20-year-old Espalier Pear tree was in full bloom winding up, over and around the entranceway.
I feel my photo above does not do the Espalier Pear tree justice; the Taylor Conservatory and Botanical Gardens Facebook site posted a better photo on April 23rd, so I am including it below.
Not to be outdone by the Espalier Pear tree, the Daffodils were pretty, perky and a vibrant yellow …
… and white as well.
There were the usual Tulips …
… and Hyacinths infusing the Gardens with some pastel hues.
This chicken, worn out from the previous day’s event at the Petting Farm and thankful there were no visitors today, ventured out, decided I was a friendly face and meandered over to say “hey”.
I ended up walking along Pardee Road to rack up some steps before heading home, admittedly not the photo-laden walk I anticipated, but I knew when I returned to check on the goslings in a few weeks’ time, it would be a different story.
Goslings galore – time to ooh and aah and get shutter happy!
Postscript: This is a hybrid post where I followed-up on Mama and Papa Goose just as I did for the family of geese at Fair Lane Estate and Mama Killdeer at the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge.
I returned to Heritage Park on May 9, 2025, hoping to see and photograph Mama and Papa and their offspring and they did not disappoint. The weather prevented me from returning sooner when the goslings were smaller and still sporting their lemon-yellow feathers (like the “runt” of the hatch – more on that gosling later).
The nest was empty …
… and, with a quick glance around Coan Lake, I quickly located the family and hurried over.
Instantly on alert, (likely because he recognized me from Easter Sunday and the past few years), the gander proceeded to herd the family closer to the water.
I assured him that he and the family need not beat a hasty retreat to Coan Lake as I was taking a few photos, then would vamoose.
Of course he did not understand me, but the family stayed put – nice! However, within minutes I heard the rumble of riding mowers fairly close by, so I knew I had to get any pics pronto before the geese were scared off by the noise.
Here is one proud Mama or Papa with three of their eight goslings.
These are my favorite solo gosling pictures. Their yellow feathers were already splotched with patches of brownish-gray, but at least they hadn’t reached that gawky, teenage phase with the big feet and boat-shaped bodies.
As you peruse these photos below, be sure to note the runt – it was obvious how much tinier this gosling was than its siblings. Since I did a walk around the park in the area surrounding Coan Lake and saw no other Canada Geese families, this little guy or gal, was not “adopted” from another family here at Heritage Park, but likely hatched later than the rest. He/she was still more yellowish, than brownish-gray.
I was mooned a few times …
… but these sweet babies were still too young to have mastered the histrionics of mimicking their parents to flap their stubby wings and hiss at me.
The next time I returned to Heritage Park there were a few more Canada Geese families and MY little family of goslings were all grayish-brown with elongated necks and bodies, wings that were “gettin’ there” though not fledge-ready yet and they were paddling and stomping around using those wide webbed feet. You’ll see those “teenagers” in a future post.
I hope you are feeling mellow from all the yellow because today I am joining Terri’s Sunday Stills Color Challenge: Shades of Yellow and Burnt Orange. Did you know there are 70 types of Sunflowers in the world? Well, I’ll show you an array of colors, like orange, gold and even brown in this Wednesday’s post.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
A lovely throwback to spring.🌷 Your critter closeups are always wonderful and expressive. 🪿 Love the goslings – so furry. 😀
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Thank you Debbie! I held off a little on posting these goslings as I didn’t want to inundate everyone with goslings (even if they are really cute). These little goslings were so cute; they grow up so quickly, except for the runt. 🙂
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Ah,………everything is cute until it grows teeth, fangs or claws!
A nice Spring recounting Linda!
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Thanks Wayne! I’d say I wish we were back in Springtime, but I’m not sure I’d want to repeat such a lousy Summer weather-wise. Yes, that’s true about the babies … the goslings are so sweet, but a couple of weeks later, they’ve lost that baby fuzz and have an attitude. Wasn’t it interesting about the runt?
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A lovely walk around see so many flowers and the goslings were a bonus. The restored church looks good too
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Glad you liked it Brian! I was putting the post together and thinking how I wished it was back in Spring, with everything so fresh and new, but then I am not sure I’d want to repeat this Summer of 2025 weather-wise. The goslings are always a bonus to see – the runt was adorable. This is a popular little church for weddings and they were doing some renovations to it back in 2020, when there was a spark from equipment, then a major fire.
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A delightful selection of photographs here 🙂
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I’m glad you liked them Anne – I am partial to those cute little goslings, especially the runt! 🙂
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Aww babies! Who doesn’t like babies!
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I know … and those babies grow up so quickly. In the Spring, every park I go to has goslings, but this park, since I follow the Mama and Papa, it is always fun to see their offspring debut.
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I have gotten quite the education on the life cycle of geese by coming here regularly. I thought of you when I saw geese flying in formation this past weekend.
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Well thank you JP! Back in the Spring I could have posted weekly on the emergence of goslings everywhere, but I held off to avoid inundating everyone with them. I always like to see geese flying in formation, especially a large “V” as it amazes me how they are flying perfectly synchronized.
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Spring is such a great time as the Earth awakens and blossoms fill the air and trees, Linda! Your images of the fluffy yellow goslings are precious. I also enjoyed seeing the orange feet and legs of the mallards. Hopefully, autumn will cool temps down. Did you see the aurora last night? My app showed it was visible in your area! My niece saw her first one in Minnesota last night. It was raining here so no-go for me!
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Thank you Terri! I always like the goslings, all fresh faced and toddling around after their parents. It was so interesting to see the runt, who had to have hatched much later, or someone found an orphaned gosling and took it here where it was “adopted” into the family. I almost threw that out as a possibility. The Mallards’ orange feet always make me smile – they look like they’re neon lights and would glow in the dark. 🙂 As I put this post together, I was thinking “do I wish it was Spring again knowing what I did about our horribly hot Summer?” Now, as we edge toward Fall and Winter, I know I will have some pangs about enjoying Summer a little longer (but mid-80s all week). No, I did not see the aurora last night – I went to bed shortly after I caught up here in Reader and before my post published. I follow “Michigan Storm Chasers” as a paid subscriber to get tidbits on good stuff like the auroras and didn’t read their e-mail yesterday as they didn’t hint at an aurora on “X” where I also follow their general posts. Bummer!
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A great post with wonderful pictures. I do love spring and while I am enjoying this fall so far, I know I’ll be missing spring before long.
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Thanks Ruth! I adore those little goslings, especially when they are at this stage and they are sweet like these (definitely before they get a lot of attitude). As I put this post together, I thought “do I wish it was Spring with a whole Summer stretching ahead of us?” I hated the heat and humidity, but I am definitely no fan of the snow and ice – you can dress for the cold, but months and months of cold ends up being a drag. Suddenly the long, hot, humid Summer is not looking so bad for all my whining about it.
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I always enjoy your rambles and photos.
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Thank you Anne! You can’t beat a Spring ramble, especially with color popping up everywhere and sweet little goslings to gawk at.
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It’s always fun to see the goslings and the beautiful spring flowers just add icing on top. 🙂
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Yes, I love the Fall Rebecca, but all the colorful Spring flowers and the debut of the goslings are really special.
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You’re making me wish it was spring again. Lovely pictures! Esp. the hyacinths. I’ve never seen a pear tree over an archway like that before. And the babies are always cute.
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Joni, as I wrote this post (about three weeks ago during that very hot and humid spell), I did wish it was Spring again, even knowing what Summer would be. And now, as we progress toward Fall, my favorite season, I wish I could have a do-over of Summer. Maybe I’d just deal with it better … I think the endless days of the sameness just got to me. I’m glad you liked the pictures. Spring and Fall at Heritage Park are the best seasons in my opinion. I don’t know why I didn’t take a photo of the entire pear tree over the archway, but I think I was aiming to show the blue sky and a hint of the winding pear tree – it is gorgeous. Their pic was three days later. The goslings are so sweet, especially that little runt.
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Wonderful variety in this post, Linda. I got a chuckle over the over-petted chicken.😀 The flowers were especially delightful. I’m swimming in blossoms right now, but I can never get too many!
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Thank you Eilene – I’m glad you liked it! It’s refreshing to look back at Spring and everything bursting into bloom and leaves unfurling, especially after our snowy, icy and brutally cold Winter. The Petting Farm events always have a lot of kids and I could feel for the chicken being over-petted. The chickens are fond of wandering, even when the only person there that day would have been there just to feed them since it was Easter and they were closed. 🙂 Our flowers will keep lingering too as we are in a very warm spell again, mid-80s for us, after a week of 50s and turning the furnace on.
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Gorgeous photos as always! The arch is fabulous.
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Thank you Linda! I don’t know why I didn’t take a picture of the winding Espalier Pear tree on the archway, but I had to include their photo – it was gorgeous!
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The pictures of the goslings and their parents are fantastic! Especially the close ups of the one by itself. What a difference between the runt and its older sibling. I love that picture. 💙
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Thank you Barbara! I came home with so many photos of those goslings that it is tough to whittle down the ones I want to use. I know you and I have commented on that in the past when we have a lot to see on our woodsy walks. I get a kick out of when the goslings lay down to eat grass and I couldn’t resist putting in all the goslings mooning me. 🙂 I liked the header image of the two of them and how you could really notice the size difference between the two siblings – nature is amazing. I can only surmise the runt hatched late as no other families were around.
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Geese hiss, huh? That doesn’t sound so welcoming. The flowered arch is beautiful but I’m more intrigued by the attached globe structure. Is this where the subsequent photos of the flowers were taken?
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They can get very loud with the hissing Dave, with the bright pink tongue flapping up and down – that is when you ensure you give them wide berth. The goslings when they are a bit older than these, will imitate their parents, even with their stubby wings flapping. It is very cute to see. The geese can be very cantankerous sometimes, especially when they have goslings and especially the gander, which, like all dads, is the protector of the family. I don’t know why I didn’t take a photo of the flowered arch – I was aiming for a shot of the metal decoration against the blue sky. The globe structure is the Conservatory part of the Taylor Botanical Gardens and it is modeled after Belle Isle’s Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory, with the same globe shape and open-work design, only that conservatory has windows as it is a greenhouse and is open all year around. It’s very beautiful and just had extensive renovation and reopened last year. I will send you a link how it looks in a separate comment.
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Dave, here is a link to the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory mentioned in my other comment:
https://www.historicdetroit.org/buildings/anna-scripps-whitcomb-conservatory
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Good read – thanks! I can’t imagine the effort it took to replace the original wood structure with aluminum (not to mention upgrading all of the glass just last year). Had no idea it’s the oldest continuously operating conservatory in the country, let alone houses the largest collection of orchids. No wonder they (re)named it after Scripps.
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I thought you would find it an interesting read Dave. I can’t imagine all that work transforming it from wood to metal and all that glass too. They didn’t publicize the closure too much, but the grand opening last year I saw on social media. It was already cold outside and the video showed some of those beautiful orchids and people admiring them while wearing winter coats and hats inside the building. What a gift of all the orchids – nice that they didn’t take it for granted and renamed the Conservatory after her.
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And being at the RenCen a year ago with my brothers, we were probably looking right at the Conservatory without realizing it 🙂
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That’s right, as you were in the heart of Downtown Detroit – it’s about five miles to Belle Isle from Downtown Detroit, then you cross the MacArthur Bridge and you’re on Belle Isle. Now there is a walkway that goes from Downtown, all along the Riverfront to Belle Isle. It was not completed when I still worked down at Stroh River Place, right at the walkway.
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Miss Linda………………………………………yes………..”I feel mellow from all of the yellow”……………………..
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I’m glad you feel mellow Ann Marie – how could you not feel bliss after seeing all those Spring scenes at your favorite park and those fuzzy little goslings. 🙂 Next week will be Heritage Park again and your fishing pictures.
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70 types of sunflowers! Had no idea, but am sure they’re a wide variety of colors. I’m looking forward to our leaves getting to the burnt orange stage. That’s when I know for sure it’s fall.
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I also was amazed to learn there were 70 types of sunflowers. I went to Emily Frank Gardens a few weeks ago as they have all their sunflowers bunched together along the fence, so I saw many colors, even brown. We only had “False Fall” as the memes say – sigh. Now we’re back to Summer again. No crunchy leaves here yet, though I’ve seen a few red leaves.
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Love all the geese and flowers!! I don’t think I have ever seen a baby goose. Ducks yes, but not geese!!
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Really – no baby geese – you are missing something cute, at least the first few weeks of their life. After that they are gawky looking with long bodies and over-sized feet and they have attitudes. The runt in this post was still sporting all his yellow feathers where the others were already getting more adult geese characteristics. I don’t see as many ducklings which I also find adorable.
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There just aren’t any domestic geese around here any where. Neighbors have ducks, but not geese for some reason.
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I’ve never seen any domestic geese, but I do see some domestic ducks that people drop off in various parks, hoping they will survive, usually the fuzzy yellow chicks that people buy their kids for Easter, then the kids lose interest. The Pekin (white) ducks are hardy and able to make it on their own. I follow a duck wildlife refuge where they take in all abandoned or injured waterfowl. They have a big pond and barn to house them.
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I always enjoy your posts…love these photos. I need to get to our local refuge.
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Thank you Kirstin! I wished we could have had that perfect week of weather more this Summer – it was hot and humid and continues to be that way. I took advantage of every coolish day to get out and get some longer walks in and to take lots of photos to use in the “lean times” (over the Winter when I don’t get out as much).
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If I didn’t know better I would think the ducks and geese are posing for you. You really captured some great shots Linda. I want to scoop up those fuzzy little goslings, they are adorable.
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Thanks Diane! I love those fuzzy little goslings too! I am glad there was still one gosling, the runt, that was yellow to show how these goslings change colors transitioning to grayish brown so quickly. I always laugh at the ducks because if they don’t just walk away, then they come up to you waddling on those bright-orange feet like “take my picture – got treats?” 🙂 You can’t feed the critters at Heritage Park, but you used to, but unfortunately the ducks and geese never got the memo.
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Hi Linda, feeling mellow from the yellow indeed – and had to smile at you getting “mooned” a few times – you are so funny!1
also, I really enjoyed this post today because of the juxtaposition of fall. In fact, I was standing our back, noticing the leaves that have come down (feels like 20% of fall has arrived here) – and I remembered back to the early days of spring and wow – it felt so long ago. Anyhow, seeing your post with all those spring blooms reminded me that spring willtruly be here again before we know it. Oh and loved the bunny chalk art! That brought another smile.
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Yvette, I’m glad you’re feeling mellow after all seeing those yellow blooms and sweet yellow goslings. The goslings are so sweet at that age and I couldn’t resist taking that picture when they all mooned me. 🙂 I feel a little sad that tomorrow is the first day of Fall, despite it being my favorite season. I feel cheated out of Summer is why and in preparing this post I could really feel the anticipation I had for wonderfully long walks with the camera that just didn’t happen as much as I would have liked. I made up for it when we had a few cool days last week and the third week in August, scurrying around to all my favorite places to enjoy Summer before the heat and humidity returned. I like chalk art too – the bunny was sweet. I am always looking for chalk art, kids’ art or otherwise, but I only saw it a couple of times, likely due to the heat – people were staying inside more often than not.
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I think you are right about folks staying in more on those hot days –
oh and wow – fall is officially here!!
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Yes, no kids playing outside that I saw Yvette and thank goodness for Fall. I used to get a lot of chalk art in my walks through the years – one of my favorites was at Council Point Park at the pavilion area where it must have been an end-of-school picnic for an elementary school teacher and her pupils. I surmised that because all the chalk art drawings were entitled “Mrs. Ratliff” (who probably saw them, shuddered and thought “really kids, I look that way?”) You remember how we drew people when we were kids? 🙂
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Yes, I remember how we drew people, and I used to have a plastic plate from school – it had one of my drawings of my family – the stick people – on the plate. It has been lost but I remember it well –
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Those stick drawings are the best! In fact, I see some people have “stick families” that are stickers on their car back window which reminds me of those early drawings.
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Hi Linda, I have seen those stickers as well.
And I am not sure if your art classes will take you into drawing the human figure – but when I taught elementary art (so fun!) the middle schoolers had to learn about the human figure and proportion –
and this was best done using stick figures!
The stick figures also had balls for the joints – and this was crucial because the balls make sure arms are not too stubby – balls (or small circles) are used for knees, elbows, ankles, shoulders, hips, etc –
Then the sticks get volume by adding to the lines tubes – and then simple geometric shapes like ovals and circles for the head, torso, and limbs.
What I liked about the lessons was that most students could end up with a nice drawing – and not just the talented ones (and some students had what seemed like more natural art talent) but everyone could start with the ball and stick human figure….
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That’s interesting about this step-by-step process to create drawings of humans Yvette and I like that that simple process helps everyone to learn. Yes, there is always someone in the class that excels more than the others, in the case of art, a person with natural talent, causing the others to feel left out and they often begin to lose interest.
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I hope your art is going well !
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Yvette, I did a lot of sketches in August when we had that prolonged heat wave – all birds. I just did them in a sketchbook in pencil as I intended to put them into a blog post at some point, but two I sketched on watercolor paper, but haven’t painted them yet and want to before I do the post. When we finally cooled off, I made a beeline out and took some long walks and took pictures. I haven’t even sorted through those four days of pictures yet. I have had several contractors here though the past two weeks and have a new handyman stopping by for some mortar work and my screen door has an issue. The landscape job, I had to run out three times a day to water as he seeded after repositioning the retainer wall and it got hot again. I don’t want to start anything if I have to run out. I’ve done my posts for the next two weeks. The instructor will be having a landscape drawing class this Fall, not sure when yet though. That means, we have weekly assignments for four weeks and they are due by Sunday night.
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well I hope you enjoy the landscape drawings if you take it this fall – and that sounds like a great next class.
Also, I look forward to seeing your bird sketches
🙂
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Thank you – I hope so too Yvette. I am looking forward to the class. I am going to take a hardcover bird sketchbook I got as a gift from my mom and use it in the post, plus I drew a few sketches from that book. I think maybe I’ll do that in November.
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sounds like a good idea!
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