Mom!!! Hank's biting me - make him stop!

Oh dear.  I went out for what was going to be a short trip to Kittatinny Valley SP and discovered three broods of recently hatched Canada goose babies...I was a goner.  Two hours and 517 photos later... Well, many of you will be able to relate to this.  Right?  

I had a terrible time making a choice for my blip today - so many adorable pics of the fuzzy babies!  But, I kept coming back to the series of shots I took when three of the goslings were bickering.  They got pretty serious about pecking and biting each other and at one point two had ganged up on another and I feared that things would get ugly.  However, at some silent signal from the watchful parents, they stopped arguing and trotted off to the parents.

Canada geese are generally viewed as a nuisance in much of the US (and I daresay the rest of the world that has them) because they hang out on lawns and lakes and poop up a storm.  Plus, they can get pretty aggressive - both with other species of water birds and with humans.  However, when they are little yellow balls of fluff...they just melt your heart.  I will definitely be visiting them a few more times in the weeks to come!

If you've the stamina to see another 12 shots of the adorable babies, click HERE to view them on Flickr.  And if you want to see what an agitated parent looks like, have a look at Extras for today.  For one scary minute, I thought I was going to be charged - which would have been awkward since I was crouched in the grass at the time.  Happily, Dad decided that I could be ignored.  At one point, I was lying on a picnic table and there were goslings right under the table - with both parents keeping a VERY sharp eye on me.  A big nerve-wracking, actually.

It's Friday ... Hubs is on his way home and then the weekend will officially start!

Toodles,
Deb