The funniest part was the gosling daycare gaggle that, while we were watching, marched itself right up to the back patio door of one of the apartments and waited there until someone opened the door and came out to feed them.
Knock-knock!
(Okay, feeding them isn't the greatest idea, but the marching up to the door and essentially knocking thing was pretty humorous.)
The ones around here are a little more self reliant - I saw a family of geese (2 adults, 3 ~10" tall goslings) "popping down to the shops" while I was out yesterday. Weren't begging but they didn't seem to be all that scared of me either :P
I remember visiting this old medieval abbey last year. It was built on top of a hill, and at the bottom you had a river with an small island where you could have a picnic on wooden tables and benches.
No sooner did you step on the island that a flock of Mallards would come out of the river and surround your table, staying just out of reach, but clearly hoping for some bread or chip.
Once you began feeding them, there always was one brave soul, usually a female, wandering right next to you, at your feet, never flying on the bench or the table where all the food was, but waiting patiently to be given something, picking the food from your fingers.
I could have bought a dozen baguettes just to feed these Mallards, they really were a show all by themselves !
These were acting much the same way; they'd all rush up to surround us, but when it became clear that we had no food, most of them went back to grazing. Except this one in the photo, who followed me around with that "are you *sure* you don't have any food for cute li'l me" look.
As I mentioned above, the most brazen (and funny) ones were the adults who were playing babysitter; they marched the small flock of goslings right up to the back door of one of the apartments near the lake and waited until the woman who lived there came out to feed them.
Around here, they're like rats. Especially in business parks. I'll never forget the time I was driving the ol' Neon, about to turn right into my employer parking lot, when I noticed a pair of them flying low from the pond across the street toward my car. The lead one took off fairly high before getting to my car, but the second one almost headed into my open driver's window. He was squawking the whole time, as if saying "Pull up! Pull up!!" :-)
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branchandroot
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Date: 2007-07-02 12:22 am (UTC)MOOOOOOOOOOOOORE??!!!
*giggle*
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Date: 2007-07-02 01:08 am (UTC)Knock-knock!
(Okay, feeding them isn't the greatest idea, but the marching up to the door and essentially knocking thing was pretty humorous.)
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Date: 2007-07-02 01:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-02 12:41 pm (UTC)No sooner did you step on the island that a flock of Mallards would come out of the river and surround your table, staying just out of reach, but clearly hoping for some bread or chip.
Once you began feeding them, there always was one brave soul, usually a female, wandering right next to you, at your feet, never flying on the bench or the table where all the food was, but waiting patiently to be given something, picking the food from your fingers.
I could have bought a dozen baguettes just to feed these Mallards, they really were a show all by themselves !
no subject
Date: 2007-07-03 05:11 pm (UTC)As I mentioned above, the most brazen (and funny) ones were the adults who were playing babysitter; they marched the small flock of goslings right up to the back door of one of the apartments near the lake and waited until the woman who lived there came out to feed them.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-02 09:18 pm (UTC)