Thursday, January 12, 2012

Geese Geese

Geese Geese and more Geese!

The weather has remained extremely mild for January here in Iowa. Open waters or partially open waters have kept geese situated in urban locations around our capitol city of Des Moines.

I found geese sitting on a  sand pit in Johnston, a suburb of Des Moines along I-80/I-35 on January 5th, but didn't stop to get a picture. My path was leading me over to Fisher Lake where the Bald Eagles had a reported presence since December 21st.

November 28, 2010

The following picture is being pulled out of my archives...Hubby and I were headed north on I-35 following a family Thanksgiving.

We were driving our pickup that had slightly tinted windows and the light of the late afternoon left the digital exposure dark.My intent on getting the picture was to catch the moment as the geese were flying s from west to east over the interstate headed in the direction of the airport. Going in for a landing perhaps?!?
Getting more pictures in Ankeny, a growing city north of Des Moines, on I-35 back on December 29th, 2011 kept me in awe. The birds like to congregate in the vicinity of the airport due to some water features created by corporations and a hotel.

Parked at the gas island of a Casey's convenience store I started snapping pictures ...

The car filled with gas I was on my way.

The geese are definitely focused on the way they want to head. Waves and waves of them passed by with the same thing in mind.

No stopping to chat, for the target lake was almost under foot as they reached this point.

Just a few more wing flaps for these tired natural aviators.
Then I moved over to the lake by the  Comfort Inn hotel where they were coming to rest.

I didn't want to look straight up as the geese passed over in the event something would come following the  gravitational pull of our atmosphere.

Luck was with me...no bombs came to rest in my vector.
Ice shelves gave some of the geese enough support to stand on one leg for a nap.

My visit was short so I don't know how long these guys and gals actually were able to tuck there beaks under a wing.

As I stood taking pictures another car pulled up behind me. A young woman headed closer to the group.

I stayed back to keep stress for the geese to a minimum.

Yesterday, on a trip into town I stopped at Bondurant, a little town I pass on this route to my destination. They have a little sports complex/park situated by  highway 330.

This  group was but a small sample of all the geese that were scratching the ground or sitting at waters edge preparing for whatever direction the winds were about to take them.


Each year it seems as though we host these winged water fowl longer and longer. Some have decided our marshes and farm ponds are great places to raise a family...oh to see how many will return to set up their own households.

Our weather has taken a turn towards winter over the last 24 hours , snow was a dusting, and flurries persist  here at Timber Life. The blustery winds are finally sending its chill and I imagine the waters will begin closing up for a few months- our winged visitors will have to finally get on their way further south...

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Timber Life Buck Scrape

My dog Sadie and I were out walking the last of October looking for signs of bucks setting up their territories.The first scrape was noted on October 18th and a day later the second scrape was getting a start.

We checked the north pasture and then a specific tree on the south side of the ravine splitting our property. These two areas seem to be the first places where the buck activities become most notable - they have favorite scrapes that let me know when the heat is on the rise. After that all the little trees are marked for sending out messages.Then low and behold if they aren't scored again when it is time for the separation of antlers.

October 21st, my trail camera caught some stills of a buck marking the scrape that seems to have become an active spot in the last two years. The pictures seem to verify what you read about...rubbing the head, face and turning around to include bodily fluids in the mix of the cocktail.

My short little video is actually longer than the sum total of all the seconds on the time stamps on the far lower right hand corners of the pictures. I don't use my movie mode on the camera yet, because I haven't invested in a 16GB SD card to have enough space to capture all that information.



The Whitetail Rut season is over here in Iowa and the bucks are on the downhill slide of testosterone levels. Night time images of anterless bucks started  to appear on December 18th...seeing fresh blood and holes where the bone was once attached to the skull is setting off an alarm. Time to get out for some shed hunting before the varmints carry them all away...