It’s official, I can now coast until the new year as the last of the 2024 stressors completed last Saturday night. I was slightly worried going into this last ultra-race of the season. Torqued up my ankle pretty bad during the haunt work that didn’t seem to be responding to my customary barrage of rude insults and brash comments regarding its lily-livered condition. Even broke down and had it forcibly unjammed by my Chiro, plus cut my taper short to give the weak-ass, dirty bilge rat of a joint several days of rest (link here). With all the extra attention. it was STILL tender race morning. I’ll do my regular race recap later, but in summary, about the only two things that went right the entire day was I got up on time and I willed myself across the finish line. Everything in between pretty much the proverbial shit show. Dispensed with the nag and went full blown crush on the bad ankle at mile TWO (slid off a rock under the leaves in the dark), stomach issues prevented me mid-race food, stung by ground PO’d Hornets on 3 of my 5 loops, unexpected heat and switched to just plain water for loops 4 and 5 because the stomach refused any fluids with flavor – exception was the lifesaving ginger ale at the aid stations preventing me from hurling. Oh, and with the ankle destroyed, didn’t dare take the shoe off. No dry sock changes led to massive blisters on feet for last two loops. Not the best outing and certainly not the worst, but all things considered, one of the hardest finisher buckles I’ve ever earned – and I’m damn proud! Wife and friends have chosen the less glorious word “crazy”..which, ironically, brings me to today’s post. While I do my best to even stand, Brad is going to take you out to one of my favorite places to bird in Henderson, NV.
Take it away Brad… (note, responses will likely be delayed as he and Jan are still out on assignment in faraway lands).
During a return trip to Las Vegas to catch Death Valley, Jan and I had a list of birding assignments from Intrigued HQ. Originally, we had planned a full day at each, but we lost most of a day to a flat tire on our rental car trying to pick up an unplanned birding location. (See A New Low link here.) Suffice it to say that we now had one less day and had to consolidate destinations within the remaining days of our vacation.
One day we had to split between two destinations. In the morning, we went to Clark County Wetlands Park. After literally running through Clark County Wetlands, we headed to the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve (HBVP) just before noon. Based on our experience, try to get there early because they close at 2:00 pm. You will want to reverse these two destinations if you must see them the same day like we did. We were also informed that they lock the parking lot gates promptly at 2:00 pm when they leave, capturing you and your car inside. We did get the local number to call in case we lost track of time and found ourselves captives.
With the over 40 different species of birds we saw on this trip, I thought I would give you a slow pitch today. This should be an easy guess on today’s subject.
Hit the jump to knock this easy pitch out of the park.
Normally, a single Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) is a stately bird, holding its head up high and walking with purpose to the next meal or guarding their cute little ones.
But not this time. I’m not fluent in Goose (an advanced course at Wildlife Intrigued) and don’t really know what started this altercation. As Jan and I walked up between Pond 6 and Pond 9 we spotted a nice pair of Canada Geese, or gooses if you will, sitting on the left side of the trail near the water. We gave them a wide berth to the right of the trail. A famous wildlife photographer says that if the animals notice you, you may be too close. In this case, we had little choice as the trail between the ponds was only about 10 feet wide. Our initial steps backward were towards the water to the right side of the trail. After a quick glance over my shoulder, I suggested we walk to the left a bit to avoid getting very wet.
One of the pair made the usual “honk” and took off flying, leaving the other one behind. However, in just a few seconds it made a return trip in full crazy mode. For a few moments, I had Heart’s “Crazy on You” running through my head. The following sequence of photos all happened within a few seconds. Jan and I were only a few feet away and had to scramble backward for fear of being hit by a nearly 14-pound bird in full flight. For those keeping score at home, fourteen pounds is about the same weight as a bowling ball. This goose was coming in hot. Before it even hit the ground, it was “screaming” at the other goose.
As Jan and I backed up a few feet, snapping away as trained in the Intrigued Employee Manuals, the rant continued. We were backing up only partially in fear; mostly it was because the birds were now well within the minimum focus range (about 7 feet) on our lenses. We were also risking not being able to see the whole bird in the frame. (We both were using our Nikon 200-500mm lenses.) That’s how close this was all happening. Remember bird lovers, they approached us in this case. No birds, or photographers, were harmed during these photos.
I could tell this one was so mad it was vibrating. There was a small cloud of dust (no Pigpen wasn’t nearby) from its violent outburst.
I’m thinking to myself, the other goose is surely sleeping in the dog house tonight. Or a local motel, probably off-strip. Truthfully, I’m not able to tell from the photos if it’s the male or the female doing the shouting. Maybe it was a pair of males competing for an unseen mate. Or complaining about an unseen mate. We may never know. I just let my imagination run wild while events unfolded in front of us.
I could imagine it screaming, “HenRY! How many times have I told you . . . ?”
“Is that lipstick on your feathers?” “Do I smell perfume (or cologne)?”
Then, as quickly as it started, the loud rant stopped.
“Would you like some fresh grass to eat?”
“I feel better now. How about a cold drink somewhere?”
A mated pair of Canada Geese will raise 2-8 eggs per year. The female does all the work building the nest and sitting on the eggs. The male will vigorously guard the female and the hatchlings. Little ones are born covered in yellow-ish down with their eyes open. At 1-2 days old they leave the nest to walk, eat, swim or even dive on their own. They are one of the cutest hatchlings you will ever encounter. That is, until they reach the awkward teenage phase between hatchling feathers and adult plumage. Canada Geese mate for life.
Quiz Question: We’ve all seen migrating Canada Geese flying in the giant “V” patterns across the sky. But have you ever noticed that one of the legs of the V is always longer than the other one. Always. Do you know why? Check back at the bottom for the “scientific” answer.
The HBVP is in the one little part of their range map that hits southern Nevada. The north half of Nevada has a year-round population, but the southern part of the state is a desert for goose spotting. Now we’ve reached the end.
Everyone can relax a bit; we made it out of the parking lot a scant few minutes before the 2pm deadline.
Thank you for reading. If you want to see more Canada Goose photos, please visit here.
Credits:
Thanks again to Jan and Allyson for proofreading and editing. Thanks to Jan for some of the photos in this article.
Quiz Answer:
Quiz question was: Why is one side of the V always longer than the other one?
Answer: There are more geese on that side. (courtesy of my father-in-law)
Some experts theorize that aerodynamics play a role. Each goose in the V (except for the leader) gets a small advantage by flying in the wake of the one flying in front of them. Geese never fly directly into the wind. The V is usually headed a few degrees away from directly into the wind. The downwind side may be easier for flying so more geese line up on that side.
I think that answer may be speculation because the geese just aren’t talking about it.
Wildlife Intrigued 
Your photos are amazing, Brad. It’s easy to see that this goose was a little close for comfort. I have watched them go at one another and have been hissed at for getting too close to their goslings, but have never had one threaten to knock me over.
I like your father-in-law’s explanation! 😊
+++++++++++
Brian–I’m glad you lived (or suffered) through your event. How does retiring from ultra-races sound?
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I wasn’t sure if we were too close, or it was really PO’d at the other goose. Fun photos, very close up, either way. I’ll pass along your comment to my father-in-law, he will get a kick out of it. Thanks Tanja.
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Retiring from ultra-races sounds absolutely perfect in the final miles of that race (well, all my races for that matter) as I was swearing I’d never do that again on every single painful step… of course that all changes the split second I make it past the finish mat and start planning the next one hehehehe. The races are really just to make all the hard training worth it – without that cherry on top, not sure I would be able to force myself out for all those looong training runs, especially in the winter…. besides, chicks dig scars!
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Didn’t you mean “chick” (singular) digs scars? I imagine Linda might take issue with the use of the plural in that sentence. 😊
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Um, yes, uh, definitely, that is what I meant chick, not plural, ah, um, that’s a definite single, quite the accident, funny me, honest mistake hehehehe.
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A religious person might say the gods are beating you over the head, telling you to give up ultra-marathoning and focus on your haunt trail, given the trials and tribulations you’ve been through. Forget the swarms of locusts. You get hornets stinging your ass. It’s a good thing you didn’t go anaphylactic. Congratulations on crossing the finish line.
Your father-in-law is an observant and wise man, Brad. Geese can be quite crazy. Great shots.
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Thank you Tim. We were in the wrong place at the right time. And yes he is, especially when I can use a quote in a story.
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You would think this would be some kind of sign or something…if only I was smart enough to know what it means hehehe. I definitely got my ass stung up that day/night. Unbelievable and to add to that, two of them are still stinging and literally have a sizeable hole in the flesh where those bastards pierced me. I do have problems with Bee stings, but apparently the Hornets are slightly different as they didn’t mess up my breathing – the injection sites did swell up the size of a quarter which was a bit concerning.
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That’s good they were hornets then. But still bad they stung you. I got stung in the neck by a paper wasp the other day. I rarely get stung, but they had a huge nest at the entrance to the infinite shed of doom I didn’t see when I went inside to get something. I got some long-distance wasp spray to take out that nest. It had hundreds of wasps on it. I was lucky only one wasp stung me.
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Yikes! I appreciate a good can of wasp spray with an extended trajectory. Every year I have to take out a Ground Hornet nest on the trail. Only find them when I manage to mow over them with the brush hog. Have to wait until they go to sleep, pour a cup of gas down the hole and light that sucker – technically don’t have to light it as the fumes will take care of them, but who doesn’t want to light a hole full of gas!?! I used to feel bad for killing all those Hornets, but damn, those things are just plain nasty.
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I normally don’t kill wasps unless they are in my way. Then it’s syonara waspies.
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Standard Wasps usually do not bother me much, usually don’t let their nests get too big, but if they keep their distance we get along fine. Now the Ground Hornet/Wasps and Bees hate me for some reason.
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I hope, now that you completed an ultra, you will consider knocking this self torture on the head B? Do your body (and Mrs B) a favour, retire gracefully. I could give you a few tips!
B2, don’t play with territorial geese. Also did you notice how we disregard the Canada version over here? The Pink-footed is so much nicer.
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I’ve canada geese at Rutland while here B, plus a few others. Haven’t seen the Pink-footed in the Midlands…yet.
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You should see plenty when you head north, they are more of a coastal bird but feed inland.
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Bring us back a Pink-Footed one!!!!!!!!!
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Hmmmm, should I retire or sign up for a longer race…what to do, what to do. I am definitely taking some time off to recover from this last race. This one hit me pretty hard and is lingering longer than my previous tortures.. I mean races. I think I just need to commit to getting stronger in the off season, tweak my training to better condition to the heat and most of all figure out this damn hydration puzzle. That was probably at the root of my issues and that is NOT where I want the issues to manifest. Will update once I get this all straightened out – oh, get this, I survived the race for the most part and then managed to break a toe last night just walking in my bedroom. I’m cursed.
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Broke your toe? You are kidding me. Nowadays I don’t even break sweat!
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Not kidding, so pissed – it is even on the foot with the good ankle. If I don’t get these injuries taken care of quickly, I”m going to be joining you on the no sweat bench ha.
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From personal experience, I’m pretty sure your Crazy On You goose behavior is indicative of no coffee left in the pot. Trust me. I’m an addict and a birder. But I repeat myself.
As a native of Florida, I had never seen more than a couple of Canada Geese at the same time. When we moved to Maryland, we camped on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay the week before Christmas. Tens of thousands of geese sure are noisy!
Y’all be careful out there what with crazy geese and running when noone is actually chasing you. Dangerous stuff.
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Thanks Wally. We have dozens on the lake we live near. Even on assignment across the pond we find them relatively easily. Though when retreating from Crazy we have to watch where we step.
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You are sounding like my wife Wally – to her credit she saved the sermons during the course of the day and waited until I was back on my feet, then she let me have it ha!
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What excitement! My brother had the unenviable job of feeding a neighbor’s geese while they were gone on summer break, and he learned to take a broom into the enclosure in self defense. We never figured out whether they were territorial, or just bad-tempered, but keeping our distance became our prime directive! You got some great photos, Brad, that bird is expressing agitation with every ounce of his body.
Bri – Can’t think of anything to say regarding your run that doesn’t come out sounding like my mom. Come to think of it… she was a pretty smart lady!
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That’s kinda what we thought Sam. When it’s shaking so hard dust is flying off, it’s time to back off another step. Besides, what’s a 200-500mm good for if not retreating a bit while still catching the photo. There weren’t any broom handles close by at the time. Luckily, the geese we’ve seen here on assignment are a bit further away, flying on the left hand side of the sky. Thanks very much for stopping by Sam.
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Just to keep the record straight, the “business” end of the broom (the straw bits) were always facing the geese – wouldn’t want anyone visualizing an improvised cricket bat!
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Good point. No pun intended.
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Hehehehe, you are good Sam. Admittedly, I do still give Linda a hard time for nearly decapitating a Goose who made the absolutely foolish move of walking across the fairway just as she took a whack at the ball. Doesn’t hit decent all day until that Goose steps out and just then has a perfect swing and sizzles one right at its head.
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Trust me, there is no comment/response that I haven’t been beaten over the head with by Linda during these post race recovery days. As the cartoon Penguins say, smile and wave boys, smile and wave hehehe. As I mentioned to B. it is probably still safer on the trail at night than in my bedroom seeing as how I broke my toe yesterday on the bedpost. I can’t catch a break.
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Brian…poor ankle.
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WHAT!!! there shall be no sympathy given to that piss-ant ankle. It is back in the gym now to atone for its despicable failure. There it shall suffer until it earns my trust again. Bad ankle, veeerrry bad ankle.
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Oh, goodness. Have mercy on the ankle.
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ABSOLUTELY NOT – give an inch and those damn joints will take a mile every single time.
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Yikes.
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Trust me, you don’t want a joint thinking it can just shut down on you in the middle of an ultra….especially in the case this year when I still had 48 miles to go when the left ankle started getting all whiny like.
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I learned at a very young age (12) how joints affect your life. Multiple dislocations on the left knee & two surgeries. Multiple dislocations with the right knee but, no surgeries needed. At 58, they remind me everyday how they rule my world. Never could run because of them. If attacked, I can’t run away. I have to carry & stand my ground.
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Was pretty lucky growing – broke my first bone at 32, but did have plenty of stitches before then. As a result, I am terrified of needles. I can run if I need to, but I still carry in case I can’t!
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Glad I haven’t broken anything. Only stitches I have had were from my two knee surgeries & from a benign skin tumor, just below my left collarbone. Strange thing, that was. It was cut out & the doctor’s notes stated that I bled like an aspirin patient. The lab notes stated that it was nothing but skin…no unusual cells. It’s about an inch & a half in size. My ex-Marine told me that my scar looked like a gun shot wound. 🤔🧐🤨😬
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Glad to hear it was benign, I’ve had a few large lipomas removed and always stressed until I got the results back on them. Luckily they didn’t leave bullet hole wounds like yours. I didn’t really break anything until I hit my early 30s. Lots and lots of stitches as active boys are likely to have. Then several breaks in martial arts including getting my right shoulder totally jacked up forcing me to finally transition to running. The elbow destroyed doing that is probably the worst injury so far – fortunately still all original joints, but I am sure that is a matter of time. Docs told me what I was in for if I kept up my hobbies and looking like my denials may be on the wrong side of reality. Fortunately, we are both still moving so all is good.
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I probably would have been more aggressive in martial arts had I not had the knee trouble. My sensei told me I needed to remove the braces. I refused. I was 27 & two years out from my second surgery on my left knee. My right knee fared better but, I kept a brace on it, too. Now, that right knee is bending in toward my left knee. Curse of the tall woman. All the women in my maternal line all have knee problems.
I’m still moving, just slower. I continue to work on my gallbladder.
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Bad knees and martial arts is a bad combination – smart to leave that brace on. Not sure what your tests were like, but all the senseis I signed up under were steeped in tradition (disciplined, full contact). My last 4 black belt tests were 8 hours each and I have never since been that drained and sore after anything I’ve done (broke my hand in the middle of one and injured the shoulder with an escrimis stick attack in another). To this day I use those as a litmus test against anything I am hesitant I can do. Linda is taller than me and can relate to the tall woman curse – most indicative of the amount of cursing she does trying to find clothes that are long enough. She is starting to feel those knee pains in the agility ring, but so far they are hanging together. Good luck on the gallbladder front, that is no fun.
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Kumite was with other women. We were never paired with men. We trained heavily with weapons & katas. I wish I’d stayed in. In 2008, I went into Yoga while living in Texas. Practiced that for over a decade. Covid destroyed most of it. My knees aren’t as bad as they could have been. Yoga helped a lot.
Tell Linda I feel for her.
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We didn’t separate anybody beyond if you did not hold a black belt you could only go full bore with your level and above. My instructor in college was a 5’2″ lady that had zero body fat. I held the pad for her while she was demonstrating a step over side kick to the class – she hit that bag so hard, the force went through it and exploded inside my body and knocked me back about 3 feet. Damn did that hurt, but I couldn’t show how much (pride hehehe). She graduated and was replaced by her top student who was 6’5 and built like a brick. Those were some brutal years. Then when I went back to it after college my instructor was 6’2″ …built like a brick who broke my rib with a straight side kick. He eventually left for a job at the FBI. At that time I was starting to wind down as the body had worn out — probably from the after effects of that lady’s kick in college ha.
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She knew how to transfer energy. Reminds me of Master Ernie Cates. He could Qi to the floor & bend exercise equipment. That same Qi would prevent movement, from anyone. You could not move him. He died a few years ago. He is all over YT, as is my former Sensei, Danny Glover.
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You were trained by the Lethal Weapon actor!! .. just kidding, I’ve seen a few videos of Danny Glover teaching – just looked one up from 5 yrs ago to remind myself which happened to have a lady in it if you were still there 5 years ago.
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Ha. Yeah. The Danny Glover thing is funny but, there is a tad of overlap there. My Danny was in Hollyweird, too, for a short time. Do you remember the live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie? Danny was in that as a foot soldier/stuntman.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1148885/?ref_=ext_shr
I would not have been in any videos. I joined the dojo in 1993. I was 27. I stayed for three or four years. Danny & I had a falling out…and I don’t even remember why. Isshyn-ru karate is obsure compared to other more popular styles. Danny & Master Cates had been Marines in Okinawa. That is where they learned from Master Shimabuku. As a side note, I have an ex-hubby that was a Marine, stationed in Okinawa in the middle 70s. Cates was there in the late 50s. Danny? Not sure.
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Ah, a TMNT cast member, how cool. One of my college roommates collected comic books and he’d let me read them – as long as I didn’t wrinkle any pages or get anything on them before slipping them back in their protective covers. Also collected Playboy among his other many quirks. This was video was definitely a lot later than when you were there…actually surprised that his students in the video was calling him “sir”. Wow, you have direct lineage to the style. My history absolutely sucks (blame it on my parochial education) but guessing your ex was there right after we handed Okinawa back to Japan.
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Oh, my. Heh. I must confess that, I, too have collections like that. I am a big Marvel fan, was into the X-Files, Star Trek & B5. Cards, comic books, chase cards…I have BINDERS of stuff. Acid-free card sheet holders…all that stuff. Been to comic cons in the 1990s.
I didn’t catch the “Sir” thing. Must be a generational shift of some sort. “Sensei” is the proper term.
My ex…a “Dan”, too, of all things, enlisted in 1975 (Hollywood Marine). He went thru the aging “Vietnam” training & was sent to Okinawa.
More data on the “master.” Take data on Wiki with a grain of salt but, it’s somewhat decent.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatsuo_Shimabuku
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Punisher and Watchmen was my scene have a never opened and sleeved set of the Watchman series somewhere in this house that I am absolutely positively sure is worth at least 2 cents more than I bought them for. I still remember the fond days of my parents buying a massive stack of comic books before a vacation and handing one or two out at a time whenever we were traveling from place to place in the car in order to keep me “out of their hair” hehehe.
Interesting background. I am curious, is “physical level of a person six years his senior” equivalent to “the strength of 10 Grinches plus 2”?
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I think I have seen a couple of Punisher movies…Hasselhoff…wait. He was Nick Fury. Thomas Jane? Dolph Lundgren? I knew nothing of Watchmen until the movie. Big Jeffrey Dean Morgan fan (did not like Neegan, tho). I grew up reading my dad’s comic books…Tales from the Crypt stuff, The Witching Hour…
Ha. Wiki descriptions. Master Cates did reinforce Shimabuku’s power, even for his advanced age, Grinches notwithstanding. 😁
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Honestly, the only Punisher movie I really liked was the 2004 version with Thomas Jane. Dolph’s ’89 version is okay, but the other ones were full of pretty bad acting and I swore off anything with Ron Perlman in it for many a year now. As far as Watchmen goes, all you need to ask yourself is “Who watches the Watchmen”.. .and hide your eyes from the big blue wang.
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I like Thomas Jane movies. Dolph is too much like Ahnold.
Big blue wang…😂
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Love the geeses! 🥰😍❤️
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Thank you very much.
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