1293 Sad Sight on the Rondout

Friday, June 8, 2007

I went in to the museum today for the third day in a row. I'll need one more day early next week, and then we'll be back on schedule. That one day (I hope it's only one) will be a hard day. I'll have to stuff envelopes for sixty new and renewing members, and I hope this will be the last time I have to make four individual decisions for each and every envelope.

There's a high deck on the back of the museum, where I take breaks (it was 85 degrees inside today). The deck overlooks the Rondout Creek, so I can watch boats, ducks, and geese going up and down the creek, and catch a little breeze.

Yesterday I watched a pair of duck parents trying to corral and guide ten fluffy little ducklings. In photos and stories you always see ducklings following a parent in single file, very obediently. Uh uh. Not the way it works on the Rondout. The ducklings were scattering every which way, and the parents were frantic, quacking and nudging, as the ducklings were weaving in and out through the docks. I truly believe Momma Duck could count.

Today a flotilla of Canada geese were moving down the creek. They were travelling in a loosely spread out group, but obviously in definite pairs. Except for one goose, who was alone. I felt very sorry for that goose. They mate for life, and at this time of year should absolutely be paired. So I guess that goose must have recently lost his or her mate. I felt sorry for it, alone among so many pairs.

In the group of seven pairs and one singleton, only one couple had a gosling, and only one gosling. The other pairs must have failed or lost their chicks, because if they still had eggs in a nest, they wouldn't both be travelling up the creek. They'd stay near the nest. That was very sad, to see out of fifteen adults only one baby.

It was cute, though. The geese were having the same problem as the ducks the day before. The fluffy tan gosling kept veering off between the docks. At one point the mother lost him entirely, and went paddling back up, honking the whole way. "Honk" is a four-letter word, and it sounded like it when she finally found him. I think he may have been tired, and went between the docks to get out of the breeze.

The parents wanted to catch up with the rest of the geese, and I was fascinated with Mother Goose's pantomime. The gosling was paddling beside her, and she lowered her head and made a scooping forward motion with her beak, several times. It so obviously said, "Keep paddling, come on, let's move."

I've always thought that animals have a lot more going on in their heads than we give them credit for.
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