Saturday, October 19, 2013

Monterey, CA, revisited (October 2013)

I lived in Monterey CA in 2008.  Visiting in May 2010, I ran across a motley Goose family at the Naval Postgraduate School.  What a delight.  A white domestic goose had crossed with a Canadian Goose and they had five little goslings, that had really mixed up genes.  That was also another older male Canadian Goose hanging with them. 

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May 2010

This visit, I decided to try and find them.  I looked all over town.  At one point I saw a flock flying and spotted one light colored goose and thought that might be them.  But I returned again to the Naval Postgraduate School my last day in Monterey, and found the very same geese.   In the above photo, you see one dark gosling.  The group I found had the two older Canadian Geese, plus one more that looked like them.  And then the white goose, and three other light colored geese with faint markings like a Canadian Goose and the fifth goose kind of looked like a Canadian goose, except his head.

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October 2013.

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The family of eight is still in tact and are either sterile or nor reproducing.  That swim together though there is a larger flock of Canadian Geese nearby.  There where in the water very near where I first saw them three and 1/2 years ago.  The males looks smaller than the neighboring Canadian Geese.  I think they are beautiful.

A lady who works there told me any time she is near them, they attack her, but small children and other people can walk by them and they don’t do anything.  I’m writing this off line as I am out of internet range… but want to search online to learn more about how old geese are before they mate, and if the hybrids are sterile???

OK, yes, it fascinates me.  Forgive me if I am boring you.

5 comments:

  1. Not boring at all. I am from Illinois. Never saw black squirrels till I went to Minn.I sat in the park all day watching them.Wildlife is fascinating. Observing them in there world not in a zoo is a privilege some humans do not understand or take advantage of.One of my best days ever was seeing wild horses in WY.Oh and the Elephant nose in Ca. I just love it all.The killer whaler in Alaska breathtaking. Gaters in FL. not so muck lol. Keep posting Swankie.

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  2. YO Swankie: CC from Q. We had dinner (w/your friend) the upper end of Q a couple/three years ago. I asked if you could cut/make a bolo tie out of a piece of porcelain. Remember now? The spouse and I are leaving home on 10-28 heading E & N (thru TX, AR & on to MO)
    Respond ASAP as to where to send you a mop bucket w/wringer. Say 4-5 days down the road after your response. My sweetie and I honeymooned in Carmel a hundred years ago. HA

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    1. Yes, I know you. Wondered if you will be in Quartzsite this winter. Was telling others of you walking all over town to all the music shows. I'll be doing more walking this winter... lots more. What was I gonna do with the mop bucket? I can't remember now. I will be staying in the LTVA south of town, but right now am floating about town waiting for Laurie from the Rock Club to arrive. My email is Charlene.swankie@gmail.com . Safe travels to you and your sweetie.

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  3. I looked for the geese again in 2016 but was unable to locate them. I found one, that could have been one of the lighter colored ones, but if so, they are no longer together as a group.

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Who is Swankie?

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Anywhere, USA, Full-Time USA traveler, United States
In 2006, I was shopping for a wheelchair. By 2007, I had new knees, better health and by 2008 a kayak. In Aug 2013, I kayaked my 49th state, Alaska, at the Holgate Glacier and in May 2014, I kayaked Hawaii, my 50th state, to celebrate my 70th Birthday and the finale to the wonderful adventure of Kayaking America? Next up... Solo Hiking the Arizona Trail, 820 miles? Maybe. Still healing from shoulder and trying to decide.

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