Okay, Here's a Happier Ending to the Goose Saga

After this morning's sad tale of woe about our goose family, I knew I couldn't rest until we had some kind of "closure" to this saga.  I appreciate all of the kind comments on both Lily's and my posts regarding the baby goslings and all the drama surrounding them.

So this morning, as I posted earlier today, Mother and Father Goose visited us again briefly. Not only did they come up into our yard and eat some birdseed, but they swam around the pond again and then they both went up onshore of the island and explored the remains of their nest. This is how I know for certain it was our resident goose couple. No other couple would have known exactly where to to go up on the island and look at the nest, and then they came back down and into the water. I wonder if they were still looking for their lost baby? It really made me wonder.  And then, shortly after leaving the nest, they both started their honking to signal everyone that they were getting ready for takeoff. And sure enough they got their wings flapping and off they went, up and right over the top of our house, close enough that we could see their feet and and wings and faces as they flew over. It was as if they were saying a final farewell to their nest and to us.

Well, after that I told hubby that "You know, we could take a little ride over to the other lake and look around..."   At first he was reluctant, wanting to put this whole sad episode behind us. But I think he was just as curious as I was and he finally gave in.  So we drove the few blocks over to where the big lake is, and the first thing we saw was two adult geese in one of the neighboring front yards, eating bread that had been thrown out for them. They were gobbling it up with a voracious appetite....   Dummy me, I didn't take any pictures of that. I couldn't decide if they were our geese or not, and there was no sign of any goslings around them. And then we decided to take a ride down a side street that goes around the other side of the lake.

And guess what I saw?  I yelled, "Stop the car! There they are!!!"

There was Mother and Father goose, and at least two goslings, walking around on the grass beside the lake.  They were quite far from me and there was fence that I could not enter to get any closer, so these pictures are the best I could do from a distance.

Now, I was only able to count two goslings in these pictures for certain, but they were moving around so fast and I really wasn't sure if there was another one or not.

There could have been three, but I can't guarantee it.

But, even if there were only two, we were so happy and relieved to see them there that we rejoiced and gave thanks for a much happier ending to this story than we first believed.

And as for my questions regarding the parents leaving their babies this morning to come back to  our pond for a little while, here is what I found out when I googled that question:

"Canada geese parents bring their goslings together in flocks known as "creches" and the goslings are communally looked after by all the adults. It's like a big kindergarten with the adults sharing the babysitting duties."  http://www.about.lovecanadageese.com/gang.html#:~:text=Canada%20geese%20parents%20bring%20their,adults%20sharing%20the%20babysitting%20duties.

So, were there other adult geese available to "babysit" the goslings this morning?  Yes, indeed there were:

There were at least two other couples swimming in this lake, and they swam over to the shore where our family was while I was watching...

Looks like this could be a "commune" of geese, and perhaps they do share babysitting duties. No wonder our family was so anxious to get over there yesterday! This is their extended family!

And so, I leave you today with these happier thoughts and a nicer ending to our goose family saga.

I just couldn't wait until tomorrow to share this with you, because so many of you were saddened at the previous news just like I was.

These pictures do look more like just two goslings, but there is a little yellow ball of something to the right of Father's tail feathers below peeping up over the hill. What do you think? It could be #3. But either way, this family looks much happier than what I feared, and I must say,

"God is good! All the time, God is good!"

If there are any more happy updates, I will let you know. But for now we will end this little Goose Saga and go sit on my swing with Lily Grace and have a cup of tea.

Lily Grace says hi and sends her love to all of you!

And we both say hi and thank you for visiting with us today.

Our little words of encouragement today come from my tea mug and from Hans Christian Anderson:

"The whole world is a series of miracles, but we're so used to them we call them ordinary things"

Perhaps we've all witnessed some miracles today that we called an ordinary thing?

Be sure to give God the glory and thanks for these "ordinary things."

Have a blessed and wonderful day my friends.

 In case you missed the first original post about the Special Delivery of the goslings, click HERE