Fishing yesterday afternoon seemed like it would be bleak at best. The air temperature was fifty one when I launched and there was drizzle once in a while, luckily there was little wind. The wildlife (and fish) more than made up for it though. As I passed up the river to Round Pond I came to a goose with a bunch of goslings. The goose gave me the broken wing act right off with lots of noise and show. I tried to explain that I had no interest in her goslings but it was no use.
When I got to Round Pond I could hear more geese honking loudly in the distance with lots of wing flapping. At first I assumed that it was a flock of geese without young just hanging out. But as a watched the story was fascinating. Like the first goose I passed this was a pair with a bunch of little ones but the additional wings I saw were from a pair of bald eagles. One of the eagles had gotten the adults to do the injured goose act until they were far from the goslings and then the second eagle came down and made off with a gosling. As you might expect there was lots of dismay and noise as the events played out. When I last saw the eagles they were headed off toward their nest with a meal for what I assume are their newly hatched young. I saw eagles work together like this in Thomaston Harbor several years ago, story here.
Unfortunately I was not close enough for pictures. The rest of the afternoon was as eventful with lots of returning bird species around. Yellow warblers, swallows, hummingbirds, a bunch of yellowlegs that must be still migrating north, wood ducks galore, and several muskrats swimming and feeding as the boat passed by. Oh by the way; the fishing was pretty good too. A dozen fish to the boat, mostly pickerel up to 24 inches and a few bass (all largemouth). Not a bad way to spend a chilly damp afternoon.
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