Goosey, Goosey....What!!

Liz was driving us home from Fonda the other day. As we crossed the river bridge I glanced to the west to see a beautiful necklace of gulls decorating the lawn at the state transportation barn. They were such a lovely gleaming white against the freshly mowed lawns.

A pair of geese about to swim under the bridge caught my eye. I always check even the commonest of wild birds, just in case there is something exotic going on.

I was glad I did. Half of this obviously closely bonded, tandem-swimming, pair of geese was an ordinary Canada goose. The other half was stocky-bodied, bright grey with white markings, and had a distinct and knobby bright orange bill. As far as I could tell, not being familiar with every exotic goose in the world, it was a common, ordinary barnyard goose. It looked like this. It could conceivably have been a greylag goose, as that European breed does occur here on occasion. Or it could have been somebody's pet lured away by the call of the wild.

I don't guess the bonding of wild waterfowl and tame farm birds is at all uncommon, but this was sure a first for me. It was the thrill of the week, bar none.

As always I had the camera with me, but those of you familiar with the bridge know it just isn't a spot where you can take pictures. Maybe later in the week Alan and I will drive over to the transpo barn and see if they are still there.


****PS, Dairy farm blogs are few and far between, so I am always delighted to find a new one. I have been reading a new one for a couple of weeks and I believe it is a keeper. Check out Orange Patch Dairy. I think you will like it.