Wordful Wednesday-Canadian Geese

You can view more Wordful Wednesday at Seven Clown Circus.

These next photos were taken by my Daughter. There is a area pond that she like to go fishing at. Oh but wait, you will see there are more things than fish in the waters......

Canadian Geese

Canadian Geese live in the area near Water, grassy fields and grain fields. Their love for Manicured lawns has increased over the years for a couple reasons. The young can feed on the grass as the parent keeps an unobstructed eye on them and the surroundings. This is why in the northern states area we will see them gathering near Parks, golf courses and Airports. This action makes them sometimes called the Nuisance Geese, in some suburban areas. It also causes a hazard to the airports planes. As you will recall a flock a Canadian Geese flew into US Airways flight 1549 on January 15, 2009. Causing a complete engine failure. The plane set down in the Hudson River.

Now for you bird watchers;

Kingdom-Amimala
Phylum- Chordata
Class- Aves
Order- Anseriformes
Family- Anatidae
Species- Branta

There are 11 subspecies known. Here are seven of them.

• Atlantic Canada Goose, Branta canadensis canadensis
• Interior Canada Goose, Branta canadensis interior
• Giant Canada Goose, Branta canadensis maxima
• Moffitt's Canada Goose, Branta canadensis moffitti
• Vancouver Canada Goose, Branta canadensis fulva
• Dusky Canada Goose, Branta canadensis occidentalis
• part of "Lesser complex", Branta canadensis parvipes

The size will get small as you move northward as well as darker if you move southward.
Four of the smaller version have a new species name "The Crackling goose"

For a few years now some are not moving so much south but are staying north. It is believed that the reason is due to the Farming changing. Farms being sold and housing developments going up. This make the waste grains not as available. Therefore they stay closer to the water and marsh areas. Another cause is weather changes.
These birds can live up to about 30 years if they can stay out of the rifles aim. Most Hunting has decreased due to their migrate patterns as well as the Laws of Hunting and areas being limited. With less and less open field and woodlands, new natural protected preserves and new Gun laws it has given a protection blanket for the Canadian Geese. That is why we see more and more flocks flying through our Northern American skies.

a closer view.

Dad's Pond

I really Love going to Dad's. He has a fish pond. We (Dad and I ) put the pond in. I remember the fun time we had doing it. Let's see that was about 10 years ago. Made different updates to it since the first time. Now Things are falling apart and Dad stated he did not want to continue it. his word were" When the fish die that will be the end of the pond.". He had not been the same since Moms death Two and a half years ago.
I thought I would post a video and some pictures.
The photo to the left above can be click on for a closer look. it is Dad's reflection in the pond. He is looking at the fish, I took this and then turned it around so one could see dad's reflection.

This is the Frog fountain I bought for their Pond some years ago.

He had many fish in the pond.
These are the ones still there.
Mostly Coy fish now.

I remember years ago he had some Coy's. One year they all disappeared. We thought a cat got them. Because, the Neighbor stated a wild Cat was attacking his.Dad wanted to check this our before getting any more. I was out looking at the Pond and swore I saw a dark one swimming in there. Mom and dad were sceptically due to the fact they had not been feeding any for a long time and dad never had any dark ones. Well that got my daughter searching for it. Low and Behold there was one. It was not one that Dad had put in the pond. Our guess was that the coy fish had babies and this one survived! It was a Black Coy we called it Shadow, because it really did look like a shadow in the pond. Shadow grew to have some color on him, making him look gold. Shadow died last year, he was always a favorite of the family's.

Here is a video of the sounds and views of Dad's Coy pond.