Egyptian Geese: goslings are not early birds...

... oh, and spot the pigeon "photobomb". Sneaky.
Definitely better large; please press "L".

I visited the goslings this morning ("quelle surprise") and they were on top form: they were still in their cute sleeping pile when I arrived, but a dog roused them rather suddenly, and I also got lots of pictures of them flapping their semi-fledged wings, and falling into the water, and stretching clumsily.

I like this shot though because it shows how patchwork their plumage is at this stage: they look almost fully-fledged from certain angles, but then you notice that their heads are still mostly downy, and so too are their lower-backs and sides. The back two are actually preening, but the middle one is really "in the zone" (its eyes were closed adorably).

The cutest moment of the morning was when the father returned to the pond after zooming off in pursuit of a mallard, and flew back in fast and low as he approached: as he flew past my head, and over the goslings and wifey, the goslings all leapt up and started peep-ing hysterically then all raced into the water to chase over to where he landed. They seemed so ecstatically excited! Here he is on his low approach.

I also photographed a juvenile moorhen which was hell-bent on climbing flimsy branches and reeds at the side of the pond: I don't know what it was up to, but it would climb up (flapping its wings for lift and support) until it reached such a height that the flimsy limbs couldn't hold it (in spite of its flapping) so down it would splosh... Weird.