you had to be there....

All of the geese were on the water, small singular openings in the ice, teeming with bird life. They seemed to pay no attention to me. I thought I might get some good shots of the early morning light on the churning water. There were some nice flat rocks lining the lake, inviting me to sit and photograph.


The very second I touched my foot to the ice; I looked up to see one of the geese hurling itself towards me through the air. I am used to seeing the geese take flight in an instant. I rue the fact that I have no talent for getting my camera into place with the right settings in the seconds it takes for the image to come and go. But within another second, I could see that the geese had decided to fly at me – at least a dozen of them. After the first five or so flew straight at me, only to land softly on the ice within about 10 feet from where I sat, I relaxed and took in the bizarre experience. I don’t know what these geese were up to but they didn’t ‘harass’ me for food or try to chase me off – they just appeared to be curious. I am not one to anthropomorphize animals, so I don’t actually know why they gathered around me but it was quite a moving experience. Most of them sat on the ice with their legs tucked underneath their bodies. Some of them walked around. Every time one of them walked by another goose, that goose nipped at it, so I would say they are very territorial. The sun was not up yet so my photos didn’t turn out great. However, it was one of those “you had to be there” moments!