Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Ducks and the geese that watch over them


Kids above catching dragonflies...below, the mogwai (Gremlins) of the flock of ducklings.



Above, an idyllic little path to see the water lotuses. Below, the view from near my father's vegetable garden.


Above, the white geese that roam the property. Every evening, my father claps and yells, "Hey!" and they all start filing in to their enclosure for the night. In this old post, you can see images of the geese walking in single file. It's hilarious (please come back after seeing the first few photos because I have a funny story to tell). The two Chinese geese in the photo below used to be part of that gaggle of geese that would roam during the day and come in at night. However, ever since my father collected eggs, hatched some of ducks and geese and then brought them out into the smaller enclosure, the two Chinese geese have not left the enclosure to join the other white adult geese at all. Instead, they stand guard just outside the smaller enclosure ALL DAY LONG. When anyone comes near, they start spitting and hissing. As it turns out, 3 of the baby geese belong to the Chinese parents.


On this day, my father needed to change the bedding in the little house. When he got near the enclosure, the Chinese geese started flipping out, honking and crying, and causing all kinds of hysteria. Then all the baby ducks and geese start honking and quacking and running around. In the photos below, you see that the Chinese geese first tried to corral the babies into the corner, and when my father walked in, they started to corral them into the house. Finally, must have honked, "GET OUT! GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!!!"




Once the smaller guys are able to mix with the older folks, it will be really interesting to see what happens. I wonder if the non-Chinese geese will be adopted by the Chinese parents? I wonder if the Chinese parents know which are their offspring? Will the ducks try to follow the Chinese geese? When the geese are able to roam the property, will the ducks cry out? Will the regular white geese adopt their offspring at that point? Will the geese then roam as one group or split off into two now? Gawd, the whole thing is so fascinating to me!

9 comments:

  1. Feeling a bit homesick now. I usually heard geese and duck quaking when I call my parents. Your parent place is so lovely.

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  2. Your parent garden is very lovely. Whenever I call my parents I always heard geese and duck quaking in the background. You make me feel homesick :-).

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  3. Too funny...your father has his work cut out for him.:) I still remember being chased to the school bus stop as a small child by one of the unfriendly ganders my parents kept one year.

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  4. Your father has a lovely property! Sounds like he's also has his hands full with the baby sitters! Haha!

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  5. As I am watching these geese from here... I can almost hear their quacking! They can be really loud haha... Btw, it is nice to think that they will be able to recognise their offsprings ;-)

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  6. idyllic scenes - I'm sure all the ducks and geese will get on regardless of differences in their species and ethnic background ... btw what do the chiildren do with the dragonflies when they catch them?

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  7. Wendy, they really are fascinating creatures, aren't they? They remind me of the chickens we used to have which displayed some pretty cute antics themselves. Your father must be a great with his ducks and geese. I hope you'll do a follow up post on how the babies do.

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  8. Beautiful place! So many duck and geese! ust be ery noisy when the quak! hahhaha... Your fatehr must be very proud of them!

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  9. During my childhood, I had a wonderful time helping my grandma rear ducks from little ducklings. She used to make salted duck eggs and her signature dish was braised duck with yam (taro). Such memories are sweet. I bet your kids will experience the same. As for the geese, I always avoided them. I was scared whenever they pointed their beaks at me and chased after me!

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