Splish, splash, they were takin' a bath...
Oh...to be a goose...in a pond...on a hot and humid summer afternoon in Southern Illinois...
...bear with me, dear readers. Once again this week, the focus is on critters. Feathered critters. Canada gooses, to be sure.
Before we get to the topic at hand, let me revisit, one more time (and then we’ll be done...maybe...) the Australian wood duck...black-bellied whisting duck...which have garnered way more attention than is probably necessary in this space over the past few weeks.
A fellow traveler on The Journey Through Life suggested, perhaps with tongue in cheek, that perhaps the bird I had spotted was a dodo. I thanked him for the observation, and suggested that the only dodo to be found at the moment was taking the picture of what was, at the time, a mystery creature.
As you may know, dodo birds, like passenger pigeons, are no longer a part of the world around us. In a word, both of those critters are extinct. Thanks to people, I believe, but that is another story, for another time.
Now...about those gooses we were talking about...
...not long ago, yours truly paid an afternoon visit to one of his favorite haunts in Union County land. This particular place is home to a pond. The pond, in turn, has been the home of a family of Canada geese. (For now, we’ll stop referring to them as gooses, just so the grammar police don’t come after us.)
At the time of the visit, Mother Nature had blessed us with typical Southern Illinois summer time weather. As in it was really warm, no make that hot, and humid. Some folks might use the word sultry to describe the conditions.
While walking around the aforementioned pond, I happened to notice that the geese, which I have seen many times at this particular location, were in the water.
And they sure seemed to be having some goose fun. They were splashing in the water. They were diving under the water; on at least one occasion, all of the geese (about a half dozen or so of the birds) disappeared under the water. They quickly resurfaced, and continued to splash and, well, frolic. Every once in a while, one of the birds would start flapping its wings...drying off a bit, I suppose.
Geese may do this sort of thing all of the time, especially on a hot, humid, sultry summer afternoon. I had just never seen geese having this kind of fun. A shortcoming in my life, perhaps.
Last week, I mentioned the help which a retired chief waterfowl biologist had shared in helping me to determine that the recently spotted mystery bird was not an Australian wood duck. Probably not a dodo bird, either.
After I told him about the geese in the pond, he shared that they were bathing. Taking a goose bath, so to speak. I wonder if Canada geese have bright yellow rubber duckies to play with when they take a bath. Didn’t see any rubber duckies at the time...
...speaking of The Journey Through Life...be sure to attend the Peach Festival in Cobden this Friday and Saturday. And be on the lookout for black-bellied whistling ducks...or maybe a dodo...he’ll be carrying a camera...