A Visit to Quiet Waters Park, Annapolis, MD

We visited Quiet Waters Park in Annapolis to get together with my sister and her husband.  It is part way between us both and a fun place to visit.  We had a pleasant picnic under the trees overlooking the little lake with a gazebo and bridge and the weather was a perfect Spring temperature, even though a storm loomed in the distance.They brought their dog, Brutus (black), so we just had to visit the unusual dog beach in the park.   Brutus wasn't too impressed, but we met another dog, Parker (curly haired tan dog) who was having his birthday party there.  

Dog beach

Brutus

Parker

Pink Fleabane

Two Bald Eagles Hanging Out on the Loblolly Pine

We have a few tall Loblolly Pine trees on our property.  They have become a little more popular since the geese took over the osprey nest.  Sometimes the osprey and eagles like to sit on the high branches and look for their next meal.  Recently, an eagle pair were enjoying the view.   

Azaleas Part 2

We dropped by Annmarie Garden again to photograph the azaleas.  This time I remembered to bring my flash.  I especially like the multicolored ones.  So pretty!

This one was made of 2 photos edited together to make it sharper.

Storytime: The Lost Gosling

 

On May 2^nd, I noticed that the geese on the osprey's nest hatched their goslings. Daddy Goose was on the lawn, keeping an eye on a little gosling that had somehow fallen out of the nest.  The little bird stumbled around and got caught briefly under the base of the cedar tree by the water.  

Daddy Goose couldn’t find it hidden under the trunk, so he wandered off toward the osprey nest where Mama was still sitting on the other goslings. 

 

The baby wandered around, stumbling a lot.  It swam toward the nest, but Daddy Goose was looking the other way.  

I purposely left the bulkhead in my shot, so you can tell the little gosling was trying to swim back and forth and came back to the yard.  Mom and Dad were still looking around.  

The gosling tried walking along the bulkhead.  

This took quite some time and after a long while, some other birds tried to help.  This surprised me, because I wasn’t sure if the other birds would attack, but they actually seemed to try to let the geese know that they had found the little one.  

They landed quite near the gosling.  The photos are not very good, but you can see that the Great Blue Heron and the black birds were not attacking.  

Daddy Goose got quite close by, but still didn’t see the baby just sitting near the bulkhead.  He just kept looking the wrong way.  

And Mama goose was still sitting on the other young ones.  

Finally Daddy Goose spotted the gosling in the water by the pier where I couldn’t see them, and they swam away from my view.  I don’t know if they stayed on the shore or what happened overnight.

On May 3rd, I saw three adult geese and a family with 6 goslings by the bulkhead.  I don’t know if the little gosling survived or if the family was the same one.  It seemed likely and I can only hope the little gosling survived.  

After swimming around for a bit, the geese abandoned the nest and later I saw a goose pair checking out the osprey nest.  I kind of doubted it was the same pair since there were no little ones.

The End

The Azaleas are Starting to Bloom

We traveled to Annmarie Garden again this year to photograph their azalea collection.  There were quite a few different varieties.  Last year we were a little late, and this year we were almost too early.  Enough were blooming for me to get some nice photos.

Osprey April 8, 2024

After photographing the eclipse, I decided to photograph the neighbor's osprey since I had the longest lens handy and I didn't have to carry it very far .  This year our nest is occupied by a pair of geese.  I prefer the osprey, but unless they object to the geese, there isn't much we can do, but watch the geese.  No little ones yet on either nest.