Large Helping of Canada Geese with a Side of Killdeer

The Canada geese are all over the metro area. Whoo wee. I watched some geese stop traffic twice in two different areas today. Some local parks do a good job of discouraging public feeding and redoing the lake landscape to put a vegetation barrier between people with large sacks of bread and the geese. The above goose was on one of the board walks at Wood Lake Nature Center. It was a minor stand off: would it move first or would I? I forged ahead:

It flew away.

I had a meeting yesterday at the Minnesota Zoo. Afterwards I walked around, not really interested in the tigers and wolves and caribou but more for the wild birds that may be about. The most abundant bird found:

The Canada goose. They were everywhere, nesting along the trails...

Hanging out on top of the zoo's roof...

Stealing food from the caribou pen. This goose quickly moved away when one of the caribou began to approach. As I was watching through the scope, I heard some killdeer vocalizations, but not the usual "kill a deer." It was the killdeer tone, but giving a kind of peep.

Here's the whole caribou field. I could hear the killdeer, but could I find it?

After some scanning I found her. And just as I was focusing, she hunkered down in one spot--she's incubating already! I wonder if the caribou are too much of an issue? What the chances are that the eggs could get stepped on? I'm always fascinated by birds nesting in the zoo. I remember a few years ago watching some flickers that were nesting in the tiger area and I thought, "No raccoon is gonna bother that nest! Will the young survive fledging?"

But back to the geese.

I found this bird trying to dose off. With nesting going on, geese are a little on the defensive and honking wildly at each other if someone looks at them the wrong way. Every time an altercation would start, this goose would open its eyes and then slowly get sleepier...

...and sleepier...

...and then finally go all the way to sleep.