water dancing...

...by the coot brigade

someone had left a sprinkling of bread crumbs - up a ways off the shore line... it was a constant calling to the geese - and especially the coots. the geese of course, had no issue with going back and forth getting their fill... they are used to interactions with human kind - find them a minor distraction - coots, however - are the ultimate scaredy cats... they barely get their big 'ole webbed feet out of the water, onto the sand - when if the wind blows a bit, they're running back into the water... so very funny to watch them... so it was - i thought they'd gather up the courage many times... i was cheering them on and something unseen by me, would scare 'em back into the water... then - -

this little one... gathered up his nerve making a run for it - out of the water, up on the sand - onto the bit of dry grass, then something startled him and wham... he turned and licketysplit... he was headed back for the water... legs churning - wings flapping in this half walk, half run - not quite flying sort of way... without any bread either! didn't quite matter how much cheering i did, he never got his nerve up again... but some of his co-horts did - they'd seen what he'd attempted, noted the possibility - began making runs for the bread - up and down... back and forth - with legs and wings figuring out a rhythm to make it work - moving beyond the scaredy factor - i felt proud of them - they knew how to turn it into...

a

happy day.....