We were sitting by 'our' pond. It Is our favorite spot which we go to every time we go to the garden. We have even been here when there has been snow on the ground, we visit in every season. It is still and silent usually, apart from the frogs and the birds twittering in the trees. We sat on the Adirondack chairs, and prepared to enjoy a quiet time before we resumed our walk.
We saw the pair of geese all the way across the pond, but then forgot about them, until I saw the one walk into the water and start swimming in our direction. Its mate followed almost immediately. I lost sight of them and continued to sit quietly, until the noisy pair arrived and were obviously very annoyed at our presence.
The male came up to me and gave me a stern look....
and then a loud hiss....
and pecked at one of my feet. And there I was thinking that he had just come over to pose nicely for me. He turned his head in the other direction.
I was very surprised but it took only moments for us to realize that they were protecting their nest, which we hadn't seen because it was almost hidden by the reeds. There were no eggs yet as the nest wasn't completed, but they had obviously staked out their territory. When the penny dropped we moved on, but not before he had shown us his ire.
I apologized and we vacated the area. We walked to the other side of the pond. After being turfed from our favorite spot so unceremoniously....
we found a bench and prepared to enjoy our surroundings once again, far enough away from the nest or so I thought.
Apparently that wasn't good enough. I watched the two geese get back into the water from where we had been sitting originally. They swam over to where we were now. At first they guzzled a few tasty shoots at the water's edge....
and then the male looked up and spotted me sitting on the bench. I thought, 'uh-oh' and watched as he waddled over and bared his tongue, once again hissing very loudly.
I decided today wasn't the day to enjoy our favorite spot. There would be other times, when there weren't any protective parents-to-be watching over their nest. They had commandeered the whole pond area to rear their brood and we weren't allowed. We didn't hang around any longer and left without delay.
Did I imagine the look of good riddance as we departed?
I am sharing them with the following. Thank you Anni and Stewart for two great memes.
Anni at Bird D'Pot
Stewart at Wild Bird Wednesday
