Stealth Waddling With Mum

Remember these guys? It turns out they weren’t up on that roof just sight seeing.

They were planning the routing for an important trek they would take in about a month, right around Mother’s Day.

We didn’t see where they started, and without the call from Steve who saw them from the road, we probably wouldn’t have noticed them at all. It was a stealth march from the nest somewhere to the east of us to the pond about 300 yards to the west.

That’s a long hike for those little legs, so it was slow going. I had ample time to reflect on a variation on my Dad’s favorite joke when I was a kid:

“Why does a little goose walk so softly?”

“”Cause a little goose can’t walk, hardly.”

Not a honk or peep was heard, and those parental heads never once stopped scanning left to right and back again. The vigilance was impressive.

Pops led the way, while Mama stayed in the rear, counting heads (four) as they co-floated down the creek for a bit, then up the bank to the other side. Is this what attachment parenting looks like in the bird world?

My inner photographer wanted to get closer, but my outer chicken kicked in with a healthy respect for 12-pounds of aggressively protective maternal instinct. Besides, there was something profoundly noble and dignified about this pair in the care of their brood that was better honored from farther rather than closer in.

Stay well, little fuzz balls. See you next year. We’ll save a seat on the new garage roof for you.

And Happy Mother’s Day to the rest of you!

4 thoughts on “Stealth Waddling With Mum

  1. Sandi Fentiman

    Great pics Kas. Maybe a belly crawl might have gotten you closer. You would have appeared less threatening, and not so visible. There is the shoot, roll and RUN technique. ;D Thanks for the global warming webpage by the way.

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