It’s official, I can now coast until the new year as the last of the 2024 stressors completed last Saturday night. I was slightly worried going into this last ultra-race of the season. Torqued up my ankle pretty bad during the haunt work that didn’t seem to be responding to my customary barrage of rude insults and brash comments regarding its lily-livered condition. Even broke down and had it forcibly unjammed by my Chiro, plus cut my taper short to give the weak-ass, dirty bilge rat of a joint several days of rest (link here). With all the extra attention. it was STILL tender race morning. I’ll do my regular race recap later, but in summary, about the only two things that went right the entire day was I got up on time and I willed myself across the finish line. Everything in between pretty much the proverbial shit show. Dispensed with the nag and went full blown crush on the bad ankle at mile TWO (slid off a rock under the leaves in the dark), stomach issues prevented me mid-race food, stung by ground PO’d Hornets on 3 of my 5 loops, unexpected heat and switched to just plain water for loops 4 and 5 because the stomach refused any fluids with flavor – exception was the lifesaving ginger ale at the aid stations preventing me from hurling. Oh, and with the ankle destroyed, didn’t dare take the shoe off. No dry sock changes led to massive blisters on feet for last two loops. Not the best outing and certainly not the worst, but all things considered, one of the hardest finisher buckles I’ve ever earned – and I’m damn proud! Wife and friends have chosen the less glorious word “crazy”..which, ironically, brings me to today’s post. While I do my best to even stand, Brad is going to take you out to one of my favorite places to bird in Henderson, NV.
Take it away Brad… (note, responses will likely be delayed as he and Jan are still out on assignment in faraway lands).
During a return trip to Las Vegas to catch Death Valley, Jan and I had a list of birding assignments from Intrigued HQ. Originally, we had planned a full day at each, but we lost most of a day to a flat tire on our rental car trying to pick up an unplanned birding location. (See A New Low link here.) Suffice it to say that we now had one less day and had to consolidate destinations within the remaining days of our vacation.
One day we had to split between two destinations. In the morning, we went to Clark County Wetlands Park. After literally running through Clark County Wetlands, we headed to the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve (HBVP) just before noon. Based on our experience, try to get there early because they close at 2:00 pm. You will want to reverse these two destinations if you must see them the same day like we did. We were also informed that they lock the parking lot gates promptly at 2:00 pm when they leave, capturing you and your car inside. We did get the local number to call in case we lost track of time and found ourselves captives.
With the over 40 different species of birds we saw on this trip, I thought I would give you a slow pitch today. This should be an easy guess on today’s subject.
Hit the jump to knock this easy pitch out of the park.
Normally, a single Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) is a stately bird, holding its head up high and walking with purpose to the next meal or guarding their cute little ones.
But not this time. I’m not fluent in Goose (an advanced course at Wildlife Intrigued) and don’t really know what started this altercation. As Jan and I walked up between Pond 6 and Pond 9 we spotted a nice pair of Canada Geese, or gooses if you will, sitting on the left side of the trail near the water. We gave them a wide berth to the right of the trail. A famous wildlife photographer says that if the animals notice you, you may be too close. In this case, we had little choice as the trail between the ponds was only about 10 feet wide. Our initial steps backward were towards the water to the right side of the trail. After a quick glance over my shoulder, I suggested we walk to the left a bit to avoid getting very wet.
One of the pair made the usual “honk” and took off flying, leaving the other one behind. However, in just a few seconds it made a return trip in full crazy mode. For a few moments, I had Heart’s “Crazy on You” running through my head. The following sequence of photos all happened within a few seconds. Jan and I were only a few feet away and had to scramble backward for fear of being hit by a nearly 14-pound bird in full flight. For those keeping score at home, fourteen pounds is about the same weight as a bowling ball. This goose was coming in hot. Before it even hit the ground, it was “screaming” at the other goose.
As Jan and I backed up a few feet, snapping away as trained in the Intrigued Employee Manuals, the rant continued. We were backing up only partially in fear; mostly it was because the birds were now well within the minimum focus range (about 7 feet) on our lenses. We were also risking not being able to see the whole bird in the frame. (We both were using our Nikon 200-500mm lenses.) That’s how close this was all happening. Remember bird lovers, they approached us in this case. No birds, or photographers, were harmed during these photos.
I could tell this one was so mad it was vibrating. There was a small cloud of dust (no Pigpen wasn’t nearby) from its violent outburst.
I’m thinking to myself, the other goose is surely sleeping in the dog house tonight. Or a local motel, probably off-strip. Truthfully, I’m not able to tell from the photos if it’s the male or the female doing the shouting. Maybe it was a pair of males competing for an unseen mate. Or complaining about an unseen mate. We may never know. I just let my imagination run wild while events unfolded in front of us.
I could imagine it screaming, “HenRY! How many times have I told you . . . ?”
“Is that lipstick on your feathers?” “Do I smell perfume (or cologne)?”
Then, as quickly as it started, the loud rant stopped.
“Would you like some fresh grass to eat?”
“I feel better now. How about a cold drink somewhere?”
A mated pair of Canada Geese will raise 2-8 eggs per year. The female does all the work building the nest and sitting on the eggs. The male will vigorously guard the female and the hatchlings. Little ones are born covered in yellow-ish down with their eyes open. At 1-2 days old they leave the nest to walk, eat, swim or even dive on their own. They are one of the cutest hatchlings you will ever encounter. That is, until they reach the awkward teenage phase between hatchling feathers and adult plumage. Canada Geese mate for life.
Quiz Question: We’ve all seen migrating Canada Geese flying in the giant “V” patterns across the sky. But have you ever noticed that one of the legs of the V is always longer than the other one. Always. Do you know why? Check back at the bottom for the “scientific” answer.
The HBVP is in the one little part of their range map that hits southern Nevada. The north half of Nevada has a year-round population, but the southern part of the state is a desert for goose spotting. Now we’ve reached the end.
Everyone can relax a bit; we made it out of the parking lot a scant few minutes before the 2pm deadline.
Thank you for reading. If you want to see more Canada Goose photos, please visit here.
Credits:
Thanks again to Jan and Allyson for proofreading and editing. Thanks to Jan for some of the photos in this article.
Quiz Answer:
Quiz question was: Why is one side of the V always longer than the other one?
Answer: There are more geese on that side. (courtesy of my father-in-law)
Some experts theorize that aerodynamics play a role. Each goose in the V (except for the leader) gets a small advantage by flying in the wake of the one flying in front of them. Geese never fly directly into the wind. The V is usually headed a few degrees away from directly into the wind. The downwind side may be easier for flying so more geese line up on that side.
I think that answer may be speculation because the geese just aren’t talking about it.
Life Intrigued 