One of my favorite critters is wild Canadian geese. They are such beautiful and serene creatures! I've had a few experiences with them. My most personal experience was with an injured baby Canadian goose that was rescued by the person where I was boarding my horse many years ago. His name was Vladimir, Vladdy for short. I had the immense pleasure of watching him grow up and interacting with him. One of his wings was deformed from birth, as well as one of his feet. He could walk around just fine, but was never able to fly. He was a real character and I was very sad to say goodbye to him when I moved my horse. I will always remember him.
Another experience happened one day when I went to my favorite place to try and get some photos of them. I drove up and there was one young goose on the bank of the pond. I quietly parked my car and got out hoping to get some good shots of her before she moved away. However, I realized I was able to get too close to her and that something was wrong. She had had some kind of accident and one of her feet was badly injured and she couldn't walk. I became frantic and didn't know how to help her. I was also afraid to just leave her there because this was a place people came to fish and things and I was afraid someone might hurt her. As I was standing too close to her for her comfort level, she started crying out. Then across the pond from behind some cattails came the rest of her flock. They all started walking toward me to protect her. At that point, I decided I would leave and try to find a rehabber or someone who would know how to take care of her.
Luckily, my house was just a few minutes away, and after frantically searching the internet and making a few phone calls I found out there was no one who would be able to help. Feeling totally helpless I went back to see how she was and to try to decide what to do. When I returned to the pond, her flock had somehow managed to get her into the water and they were all swimming around her. She could swim fine. I then realized that it was now out of my hands and that her family would take care of her now and nature would take its course.
Then a truly magical thing happened. I started taking pictures of them all floating around. They all looked at me and started swimming towards me and came very close so I was able to get some nice shots. As they were looking at me I was filled with a sense of "Thank You" and when I finished taking my pictures, they all turned around and swam off to the other side of the pond.
Here is one of the pictures and some of the items I have put this image on at my
Zazzle gallery.
My latest creative endeavor has been creating delightful and colorful digital art kaleidoscopes from my original fine art photographs. I'm so excited about this new area of creativity, it gives all my photos another area of expression. I will be adding more designs to my gallery at Zazzle, so check back often.
