Mean Geese

I decided to take the boys to Lake Poway today to try and burn off some of Michael's energy (average of 1.5 naps per week...ugh!) in hopes he would take a nap (no luck this time either, by the way). Kathy and I had gone there before once...there is a nice park and a little lake with ducks and coots who like it when you through bread at them.

Hmm...showing Michael real life duckies! That sounds like a great idea! I grabbed some old hamburger buns on the counter, packed up the boys and some snacks and headed out.

Matthew was asleep in the stroller and so I carried Michael and wheeled Matthew down the little embankment to get near the water where the ducks and coots were. Michael really liked looking at them...there were probably 100 birds in total (who am I kidding, I'm terrible at estimating numbers in crowds...but there were a lot of birds!) and they were mostly just floating in the water, some of them waddling around on the dirt not bothering us, just quacking and "cooting."

I figured I would get out the bread and see if I can coax Michael to hurling some bread at them. However, I didn't even get that far. As soon as I dug around in my bag, the birds, who clearly are used to this routine bolted right for us without an ounce of fear.

Now I know ducks are usually pretty calm and standoffish, they'll come closer for the bread, but I've never experienced an aggressive duck who will bite. However, I don't know about coots so I whisk Michael up and hold him while I hurl bread at the birds. They come right at might feet and are swarming! I toss the bread as far as I can in hopes they will back off, but they don't! They keep coming closer and are hovering around my heels.

Meanwhile, Matthew is sleeping the stroller (note, it will be important later: I had to put the brakes on the stroller because of the incline).

Ok, now ducks and coots are not really a problem for me..I'm laughing at their noises and Michael is having a good time looking at the birdies....

...then they came....

...two big nasty geese make their way up the bank and decide to pay us a visit.

Ducks=nice
Coots=persistent, but still non-aggressive
Geese=Mean, nasty, and aggressive

I knew from a few nips in my childhood that geese don't like to wait patiently, or waddle around and look cute. Geese go for the source of the food, in all likelihood to maul the source and get the whole jackpot of bread instead of just a crumb or two.

So these geese tag team and start to go after me. I desperately try to throw bread right at them hoping they will get the food and I can bait them further and further away from me. But these geese aren't even interested in the food. They didn't eat a single chunk despite my attempts to get them away from us. They just keep coming toward me, leaning their heads forward, honking and really looking like they are coming in for the bite.

For crying out loud, geese! I am holding my toddler and you are coming after me with your red eyes, honking, and leaning forward like you want to bite me...do you seriously want to take on a Mom holding her baby boy?

I am evading these geese because I don't want them anywhere near Michael, but for the life of me, I can't get them to stop following me. I use Matthew in his stroller as a shield...we keep going around and around the stroller, the geese going after me, and me circling the stroller holding Michael.

Ok, I'm getting tired of this. I want to leave now. I lure the geese away from the stroller and then go in to swoop Matthew away and bolt in the stroller: but guess what? The brakes on the stroller are engaged...doh! I can't undo them fast enough with my foot and here come the geese again..closer, closer, closer...

I use the bag of hamburger buns to swing in the goose's general direction hoping to startle it away. It didn't, he just held his head down again, honked, and glared at me with his little eyes while his partner tried to outflank me and come at me from around the back.

I'm officially not having fun and I just want to get out. I've left Matthew to fend for himself among a sea of coots and ducks and I'm running away from the two mean geese!

Hey...what if I throw away the bag? Maybe since they know what it looks like when I take a bag out, maybe they will know what it looks like when the bag goes away.

I throw away the bag and wouldn't you know, as soon as they rushed upon us, they all went away back into the water...ducks, coots, and geese.

Michael was pretty unaware of my concern and he actually kept asking to get down, and he thought it was pretty interesting...

..but I was a wreck and that will be the last time we will feed the ducks in a long while!