MAKE WAY FOR THE DUCKLINGS

A screech of brakes. A cloud of dust. But not a feather stirred as a string of little ducklings .... oh, I apologise ... a string of little goslings ... waddled across the road. A flurry of doors slammed open and excited squeals erupted as the children tumbled after the family of Egyptian geese. The resulting chaos ignited outraged squawks from mother duck .... excuse me ... mother goose. Like a perfectly practiced disappearing act the entire family - mother goose and all six goslings - vanished into the fast flowing waters of the flood irrigation channel. Gone. With not a trace of ruffled feathers.

But I was not about to be outsmarted or outswum by ducks. Erhm. Geese. I dashed home. Grabbed my camera and vaulted over our fences to the water flooding across our fields. It wasn't difficult to follow the joyous echoes of baby quacks. Six fluffy Egyptian goslings bopped merrily in the swirling water. Mama Goose took to the skies to lure me away from her bathing offspring.

But I was not lured. The clever little gaggle disappeared below the surface of the water to pop up far down the channel.

Except for one little guy. He called desperately for his mother circling high overhead. And then decided I was rather friendly. So he waddled to the grassy banks and proceeded to groom himself in the late afternoon sun.

The Egyptian pair have lived for many years around our homestead, foraging among my goats and holidaying in the neighbours pond but this is the first year we are blessed with a gaggle of babies born to them. In celebration I'm sharing our excitement with the bird loving @nelinoeva for this week 84 Free Theme