About two months ago the #Feathered #Friends community ran a contest and the theme was centered around FLEDGELINGS. After creating a blog on this topic I thought it would be pretty cool to continue to observe the fledgelings as they grew up. With the site where I had taken these first two pictures being just a mile from our home, I decided to visit them every so often to acquire pictures of their development.
As you can see in the first two pictures I was also able to capture some #reflections of the family as the parents stood watch over their offsprings.
Five days after bagging my first photos of this family of geese my journey to record their development began.
06/06/2012
Little had changed in this short period of time. The fledglings continued to stay close together with a parent always nearby.
06/11/2021
By this time the young geese still looked very much the same, except they were growing very fast. The youngsters always had their heads down, eating whatever vegetation was within reach.
06/14/2021
It didn't matter what time of the day I arrived at the field where they were being brought up, they were constantly eating.
It has now been just two weeks since my initial pictures and the fledglings are already starting to develop their wings and tail feathers.
06/18/2021
On this particular day, as I was approaching the field where the family of geese was living I saw this little guy. This fawn, still sporting a coat covered in white spots was another sign that other families were adding new members to their clan.
With every passing day, the youngsters were looking more like their parents.
06/21/2021
The differences between parent and offspring are still very noticeable. But at this point, I started to wonder how much longer it would be before I would no longer be able to differentiate between the two.
06/24/2021
As time passed, the fledglings were becoming a spitting image of their parents. The one exception that was still very apparent was the brown coloring of their neck.
06/28/2021
In just 28 days, if it were not for the hint of brown fuzz still garnishing their long necks, distingushing parents from youngsters would have been impossible!
06/30/2021
At this point in my trek, the young geese looked as though they were ready to fly the coop.
After doing a little research I learned that during this time of year geese molt, losing all of their flying feathers at the same time.
I like this molting thing, as parents are not able to leave their offspring until they can make it on their own.
The Lord should have made molting a part of the human experience.
If this were to happen to humans, so many innocent children would not be without one parent or the other before they are to tackle life on their own.
07/11/2021
It had been 11 days since I had taken my last pictures of the geese, and I fully expected that they would no longer be around. To my surprise, there they were still enjoying each other's company.
Can you tell one from another, I sure couldn't.
07/15/2021
This gaggle of geese seems to want to stay put.
After taking the pictures on this excursion, I hung out for a while just enjoying a family I had come to know when suddenly one of them spread its wings and attempted to go airborne.
I knew that this relationship that had started nearly seven weeks ago was about to end.
I returned to the farmer's field two days later and puff they were gone.
Stay safe my #feathered #friends, and to the parents of this special family, you could surely teach us a thing or two about nurturing those who we have brought to life!