Linda's Lens: More Spring Babes

In a prior post, I promised gosling photos from my nearby park. Well, the time has come.

Prepare yourselves for a cuteness overload!

Hello there!

In early April, my neighbor Cheri reported she'd seen three goose families with babies at our local duck pond. She also shared that the best time to see the little ones was early morning when they were out foraging with their parents. So the next day I rose before sunrise in hopes of capturing photos of the cute baby fluffballs.

Adorable, fluffy little guy

Luck was on my side! Not only did I catch all three gosling litters in a nearby grassy soccer field, it was a rare sunny morning so the light was fantastic.

Goslings fighting over a worm

The little babies were pulling worms out of the soil for their breakfast. (I didn't realize until that day, but apparently goslings eat worms) When one gosling would get a worm, it's siblings would run over and try to snatch it from them. It was funny to watch the squabbles and I managed to capture a couple of cute images.

Time for a swim in the pond

After several minutes, one set of parents decided they'd had enough of this crazy lady following their babies around with a camera, and waddled down to the pond.

But first, a drink!

Before entering the water, however, all of the little fluffy goslings lined up on the bank and took a drink.

Goose family swimming away

Then the family promptly dropped into the pond and swam away. The rising sun bathed the geese in such nice light, I clicked away until they were gone.

Goofy goslings out for a swim

A week later, I returned to check on the goslings. A couple of the litters had grown quite a bit already. There was one brood of smaller babies (born later I assumed). The young geese were as cute as ever.

MOM!!!!!

The older goslings were starting to lose their yellow fluff and their bodies were turning a bit grayer. Every once and awhile they'd flap their tiny, but useless wings (I tried to get a photo to no avail, the little guys were too fast!)

Hey, I want that worm!

There were still lots of worm fights to photograph, however.

Deep in thought

I even caught one family as it swam by me.

Gosling buddies

This park has an asphalt walking path around the pond's perimeter. For some reason the geese all liked to congregate on the path, forcing many pedestrians to detour onto the grass.

Line up for a photo! Uh, well 3 out of 5 ain't bad...

A group of the little guys decided to line up on the path. Well, three of them did anyway.

All cuddled up in a ball - such cuteness!

Then they all cuddled up together into one huge fluffball. Oh so precious!

Almost to big to fit under mom's wing

Another group of the larger goslings all crowded under their mother's wing. They were getting so big the babies nearly didn't fit. It won't be long before they will have to sleep elsewhere.