Last week I was kayaking at one of my favorite places, just after sunrise. The environment was very nice … cool, few clouds, and lots of beautiful fog! I’ll show some of the fog images soon, but today’s Fun Friday post deals with another subject that morning … a pair of Canada Geese (Branta canadensis). After the fog burned off, I was paddling the area to see what else I cold find. This place, I should add, is an old man-made duck hunting location that was taken over by the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) a few years ago. It is basically a small lake with many “islands” around the entire area; when this place was dug, small patches were left undisturbed, creating these islands. And the “dug out” portion of the lake is only ~24″ to 36″ deep! This is really nice, as I don’t need to wear a life jacket (if I fall out, I’ll land on my rear and still have my head out of the water!). Also, less danger of getting equipment wet!
Anyway, I was paddling around these islands to see what wildlife I could find. As I came up to one of the last islands on my trip back to the parking lot, I got within a few feet from the bank when all hell broke loose! Two large Canada Geese flew a short distance from the bank to the water, but did not fly away like most do when I come upon them. But they were plenty loud … and angry! I paddled around a bit and found the reason they were so upset:
And now you know … the rest of the story! That day I was quite lucky. The geese did not attack me, and that’s a good thing. Sitting so low in the kayak, I’m sure my goose would have been cooked!
