Sunday, March 11, 2012

Hello Mellow Yellow Fellow

Dear Reader,

Be forewarned. For reasons beyond my control this is going to be a very yellow post. If you find the color yellow or its off-shooting hues to be offensive or irritating, turn back now.  If thou art brave and not yellow, proceed.


It was a pretty mellow morning of birding. By funny coincidence, all of the birds I photographed on Saturday happened to be yellow. The usual bevy of Hummingbirds, Gnatcatchers, and Sparrows were no where to be found, but the yellow birds seemed more than willing to take up the slack.  


To supplement the muted birding, Maria and I decided to stop by Encanto Park, where I had seen some goslings a couple weeks ago. It took a little walking, but eventually we rediscovered the brood. There were eight chicks in all, and they seemed to have a Chinese Goose mother, though there were also five Embden Geese (don't know the gender) keeping a protective watch around them.


This is the first batch of new birds I've seen this early spring, and what's not to love? These fuzzy butterballs were floating around without a care in the world (granted, that's also the way their parents float around). Even the most rabid ravenous angry crazy wolverine would think twice about eating one of these puffballs, such is their cuteness.



It'll be fun to check up on these goslings over the next few months. This sort of things cushions against the loss of the wintering ducks, and it really has me looking forward to other spring perks, like Quail chicks. It was a brief but enjoyable bit of birding, even if it was a little bit monochrome.