Here’s Gertrude the nesting Canada Goose, with quite a dreamy look in her eye…
She’s been sitting on her nest for several days now, and I haven’t so much as glimpsed her taking a break until this morning. The photo here was shot yesterday, March 28, 2018. As one viewer observed, she may be scanning the sky for threats—but it looked to me at the time as if she were simply working out kinks in her neck.
Viewers have asked about the droplets coming from her beak. This is probably an overflow from the Salt Gland that many Waterbirds possess—a special gland that removes salt from the bloodstream, allowing these birds to ingest salt water.