Gorgeous wall-to-wall blue skies greet us this morning, but the wind is blowing 15-25 knots.  I spend all day hoping the wind will die down.  At 1600 hrs, I get my wish.  There isn’t a breath of air.  Perfect!  

We headed for shore to get ice cream cones… first things first.  And, they were delicious.  The chocolate peanut butter is just as good as I remember it from last year.  As soon as we got  back to the boat, I launched my kayak and headed for the southern point, in search of wildlife.

As I slowly made my way along the shoreline, I spotted a pair of Canadian Honkers on the beach.  I thought the one Honker looked a bit odd.  She appeared to be sleeping,  which wasn’t unusual, but she seemed to be all puffed up. 

All of a sudden, out popped a little gosling!

And then, another, and another.  

She had the whole family under her wings!  They were sooo cute!  And, they were so active!  They were running everywhere, exploring everything. 

The parents finally decided I looked a little suspicious.  So, they rounded the brood up and headed for cover. 

I continued paddling along the shore looking for photo ops.  I spotted something white at the water’s edge that caught my eye.  While I was trying to figure out what it was, I suddenly realized that something else was equally intent on trying to figure out what I was.  A raccoon, not 100 feet away, sat transfixed.  By the time I grabbed my camera and zoomed in on him, he’d seen enough and was long gone.  Darn!

I headed back to the boat, anxious to see if any of my gosling photos were worth keeping.  The little goslings were almost impossible to photograph, because they were so tiny and in constant motion, and they were in deep shade.  But, I figured, If the camera didn’t capture them, I would still have the sweet memory.