Monday, June 17, 2013

Watching the Wildlife

The other day, I was walking to the bus stop and I took a different route. I figured, why stand around waiting  on a bench outside the hospital when I could be walking and enjoying the nice weather. I'm walking along, and I stopped to double check the bus schedule. Stood up and lo and behold, a deer, just hanging out in the greenery (foliage? bushes? Trees? Foliage.)


That night, I was in the gym, and watching out the window, checking out the wildlife. Which, maybe isn't that wild. I mean, we're talking ducks, geese, squirrels, and robins. The geese are strutting around with their offspring, who are in the awkward adolescent stage of life. There was a bit of a gang war going on, with one of the kiddos crossing into someone else's turf. The next thing you know, the poor guy was getting hissed at by the jefe goose, and then his pop started hissing back. Fortunately no feathers flew, but it did make me wonder how they've gone so long without any casualties, considering the insane numbers of geese sharing the pond front property around here.

It was pretty hilarious to watch the poor awkward geese running after their parents. They had this funny gait when they ran. They are shifting balance from one leg to another, and it creates this goofy toddling run. They would mosey along, look up, and see that there parents were getting too far ahead and start their goofy run. On the bright side, the adolescent stage for a goose can't last too long. And, since they will grow up to be mean hissing geese, I don't feel too bad for them.  

The turf wars didn't end with the geese, though. Apparently some squirrels were loitering in a robin's yard, because all of a sudden, there are two squirrels being chased by a bird. One went up a tree, where it watched apprehensively as it's friend fled the scene, tailed by the robin the whole way. And I couldn't help but imagine the robin hollering, "Get off of my lawn!" 

So, what have we learned? Well, life ain't bliss in the animal kingdom, either. I guess it's hard times for everyone. Every critter. Yeah. All of us. 

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