frightened by a fish

frightened by a fish

jumping, a gaggle of geese

flee across the lake

Rounding a curve on the path around Bonnefield Lake on a hot spring afternoon, I catch a gaggle of Canada geese launching one by one into a small cove, four adult females and seven goslings. I'm amused to see the mothers with their babies because the Park Department has been trying to prevent these giant birds (Branta canadensis maxima) from nesting at the lake. Their droppings make a mess on the sand beach, the nitrogen in the droppings causes algal growth that reduces water quality, and the feces may carry the eggs of a parasite that causes swimmer's itch rash (cercarial dermatitis). So the Park staff strung rope along the shoreline, with the notion that geese don't like anything obstructing their access to the water. I've seen some of the "barricade" in other areas but none around this little cove, so their partial efforts failed with these geese.
          They look like teachers taking a group of students out for recess. While the adults watch, the goslings bob and splash about. Suddenly, a big fish jumps not far from the "playground." Startled, one of the geese instinctively lifts her wings to fly off, but then, remembering her charges, she turns the take-off into a dash across the water, followed by all the others. Fright forgotten, they swim sedately toward the middle of the lake.
          It's mid-May and so hot that the Park Department has already opened the lake for swimming. There's a roped-off swimming area by the beach, but because some swimmers like to swim all the way across the lake, there are long buoys placed at intervals for them to rest on. So far, the only swimmers I see are the geese.