canada goose – Page 2

July 25, 2010January 14, 2013

Canada Goose Siblings (Photo of the week)

It has been a very busy (and sleepless) couple of weeks for me, as I’ve been trying to keep up with watching the Tour de France while keeping up with my current work load. That translates to earlier mornings and later nights! I’ve been busily processing photos from a recent trip to Oregon, and I’ll have some of those shots posted soon. For now, please enjoy a couple of adolescent Canada goose photos from before the trip.

These goose siblings were lined up behind a long puddle, taking a break from gorging themselves on grass to drink. In the photo below you can see one of the parents looming in the background. To drink, they would sip water to fill their beaks, and then tilt their head backward to let the water run down their throats.

Canada Goose Siblings Drinking — Two canada goose siblings take turns drinking from a puddle. A watchful parent stands guard in the background.

In both of these photos, I stopped down the aperture to f/9 in order to get a bigger depth of field. I knew this was needed to have any chance of catching both geese in focus. In the first photo, the difference in distance from the focal plane was greater than the second photo, throwing the sibling farther from the camera into soft focus. The photo still succeeds however, as the closer sibling is in sharp focus. At least the second goose is easily distinguishable here – if I had gone with a larger aperture, the second goose would have been blurred away into the background.

July 15, 2010January 14, 2013

Geese on the run

Canada Geese Takeoff — With wings spread, several canada geese run across flat dirt in order to get speed for takeoff

Recently I was out by the bay photographing when I heard a commotion off to my left. I turned to see several canada geese running toward me at full speed, wings spread out to the side. I had seen geese take off into the air from both land and water, but never before had I seen them sprinting along the ground for such a distance. I even had time to regain my composure, turn my lens and capture several images before they reached the end of their runway and flew off into the air.

I’m not sure what caused this behavior – maybe they were spooked by something or fighting with each other. But for a split second, it seemed as if they’d go on running forever, running me over in the process, and head off into the sunset.

June 23, 2010January 14, 2013

They grow up so fast

Canada Goose Adolescent — An adolescent canada goose takes a break from eating grass

This adolescent canada goose was photographed a few weeks after a similar gosling in my spring babies post. While I obviously can’t guarantee it was the same chick, it was in the same location, and all of the juveniles were about the same age.

This picture shows the juvenile feather development, the development of wings, and a longer body than the chick. Each time I see canada geese in the spring and summer, I am amazed at how fast they grow. Then I see all the grass they are scarfing down, and it makes a little more sense!

May 24, 2010January 14, 2013

Spring babies – bring on the cuteness

American Avocet Chick — A young american avocet chick wades in shallow water looking for food

I was fortunate this spring to get out and capture a few different species of new hatch-lings. It was wonderful to watch these brand new birds explore around their nests. The image above is an american avocet chick, while the image below is a black-necked stilt chick. While these chicks look very similar within the first few weeks of their lives, they soon begin to develop characteristics of the very different looking adult species.

Black-necked Stilt Chick — A black-necked stilt chick is reflected in shallow water, Baylands, Palo Alto, California

While the avocet and stilt chicks tend to stay very close to water, canada goose chicks spend most of their time on land, feeding off of grass. The gosling below was one of five siblings, all feeding amongst short grass, very close to their parents. If anyone approaches too closely, the geese will corral their chicks and surround them, hissing a warning at the offender (which is why I always stayed a good distance away).

Canada Gossling In Grass — A Canada Gossling grazes in the short grass. He stops periodically to peer about.

The last species I covered this spring is the ever-present mallard duckling. I followed a family with four chicks for a few days, watching the mother keep her chicks hidden in the tall grass next to a pond, while the father warded off any other water foul that ventured too close. Here is the mother with one of her chicks, just after preening.

Mallard Hen With Duckling — A mallard hen preens with her chick in the grass next to a slough

The flash gallery below features more images of these very cute newborns. Please enjoy them, share it with friends, or click through to the spring babies gallery on my photo site. I hope you enjoy watching as much as I enjoyed capturing them.