A FLOURISHING SPRING—

In the photo above the goose family with six day old chicks meanders by in one of their countless tours of the pond.

The chicks, as usual, are tightly clustered in defense against predation. If a big bass swims by the adults will join the cluster, sometimes attacking the water with their beaks to shoo away the always hungry fish.

Sometimes the fish wins.

It’s hard to visualize now, but, these chicks will be taking flying lessons by mid summer.

Meanwhile, their yellow-green fuzziness will slowly morph into a darker color as feathers begin to appear.

In a month or so they will be 1/2 the size of the adults taking on the appearance and mannerisms of gangly teenagers. About then their trademark black and white facial coloration will fade into view.

The bass, too, are in the family mood. Momma Largemouth Bass is swimming slow circles in the pond’s shallows; sweeping a dish shaped area with her fins which will serve as her “nest”. When she deposits her eggs her ever-present consort will fertilize them with his cloudy sperm, thus continuing their cycle of generations.

Last night the lady, Hooded Merganser flew back to the pond from her evening’s exercise and immediately returned to her nesting duties in the, yup, Wood Duck box.

And, the lady Woodies, four of them, likely are nesting on their own nearby places of high seclusion.

Soon there will be black clusters of wiggly tadpoles all around the edges of the pond.

There could be lots of youngsters in the neighborhood shortly.