Reluctant Star of GQ, and Defender of the Nest!

I made a quick stop at one of my favorite ponds to check out the morning views and reflections. The pond is a pretty well established hangout for Canada geese, and at this point in the spring, they are all nesting.

The fellow in this picture was giving me a very serious once-over - and he added some warning cackles - as I got out of the car with my camera. And it turns out he had good reason to be vigilant: to the right, back in the weeds outside the frame of this photo is a nesting female.

As I walked along the edge of the pond to get a few shots, I saw other long necks poking up out of the weeds, keeping an eye on me: more nests!

Spring has sprung, as they say, and I'll keep a watchful eye out for the babies. Who can resist the charm of fluffy spring goslings? Not me!

By the way, you've seen this pond before. It's the scene of one of my favorite blips, Sunrise on an Enchanted Pond (and I revisited the pond and its reflections on a blue-sky day).

And who knows, perhaps this fellow (or one of his buddies) was even the star of the show in the original enchanted pond blip! Maybe I will even appear in a story he tells someday to his offspring:

"Yes, you see, little goslings, one day this GirlWithACamera came by and she walked all around and pointed this thing at us that made snapping noises. It was all pretty annoying, and I did my best to scare her off. But then I appeared on the cover of GQ (Goose Quarterly), so in the end it turns out she made me famous! "