Wow, the next few weeks are going to be fascinating — assuming things go swimmingly for the pair of Canada geese that built their nest on Monday (March 24) afternoon and into the evening. (Scroll down for YouTube video of the mother goose nesting.) What a location: the nest is about 15 or 20 feet downstream from the spillway dam — and it can be viewed perfectly from the bridge.

Let me back up.

Today I pleasured myself with one of those hikes that handily answered my occasional question, “Why do I keep hiking the same trails day in, day out?”

Apart from the most obvious answer (sheer convenience), the de facto retort was this: nature indeed remains chock full of surprises.

Just before the South Cove trailhead I noticed a couple of bluebirds flittering and twittering (that one’s for you, Nashville Geeks) around together — probably courting, mating, or investigating potential nesting sites.

I love bluebirds. (Who am I kidding? I love robins — European starlings, even!) As much as I would like to play professional photographer, I don’t have the equipment. I snapped the best shot I could with my impressive 3x optical zoom. The end result is indeed fuzzy, but the color — fantastic.

Three or four days ago I noticed that much — most, in some places — of the greenery poking up through the leaves along the South Cove trail is a type of white flower; I mean, they are everywhere. And today, the blooms really stood out.

The South Cove trail deposited me on Otter Creek road as I was nearing the end of an unusually enjoyable solo hike. This afternoon’s sweaty trudge was so uniquely gratifying, I did not want it to end; in order to stretch it out a little bit more, I decided to take the scenic route to the Granny White parking lot.

I took a right turn onto the long straight gravel road and strolled toward the spillway. I paused to watch a Carolina (?) wren play hide and seek with me. (It really was.) I ended up getting a decent shot of the hyper little creeping wren.

As I approached the spillway dam, I saw a Canada goose standing on the lip of the spillway, right in the middle. Just standing there. I had never seen a goose occupy the dam like that before. I crept up as stealthily as my ample frame would allow so I could get a nice shot of him before he could paddle away. (Why do I assume it’s a male? I don’t assume. I know it’s a male! You’ll see why very shortly.)

Even as I trod upon the spillway bridge the bird did not paddle away; the man goose held his ground, looking up at me quizzically but keeping his eye on the prize: his woman.

I looked over on the other side of the bridge, and there she was: the goose mate, the avian femme fatale. She was on a small island, busy at something, completely oblivious to me and the flash of my digicam. Very soon I realized she was busy building a nest. Fantastic!

(You are probably wondering where the images of this female goose are: Where’s the nest, where’s la goose, give us proof! Well, unfortunately, the images of the female nest-builder — plus three short videos I filmed — are on my external drive at the home office, so I will have to post them here on the Nashville hiking blog this evening. Rest assured, the images and videos are coming! The video shorts of lady goose working on her nest will be worth your checking back later.)

The male goose was awesome: the very model of male responsibility. He stood right there on the spillway dam the entire time, directly under me, patiently watching his significant other build the nest and, no doubt, looking out for any potential trouble brewing in the form of rambunctious chilluns, cats, or even a fox. The man goose really cracked me up, the way he craned his neck and checked me out, especially when the flash on my camera went off.

If the nesting situation evolves as nature intended, Radnor Lake visitors will soon get live, play-by-play coverage of mother goose keeping her eggs warm and then raising the goslings. It’s going to be great. Hopefully the site will not be disturbed by flood, dashed by tot-hurled stones, or ransacked by curious critters.

I finally put my YouTube account to good use and uploaded my first video. Here’s the link to the video of the mother goose nesting near the Radnor Lake spillway bridge:

Stay tuned!

Related Posts

Nesting Canada Goose – More Video

Radnor Lake Photographs: Tue., April 14, 2010