Gosling

Abundant goslings are toddling along the shoulders of the road on the Auto Tour off of Highway 49 at the Horicon Marsh.  There are 5-6 goslings in each family of Canada Geese.  They swim, eat, and rest under the watchful eyes of their parents.

Canada Geese

One parent must have detected something threatening under the water.  Typically, Canada Geese dabble by tipping their head in the water to eat vegetation.  But this parent suddenly, completely submerged herself creating quite a ruckus.

The goslings huddled around the other parent for protection from the danger.

The submerged parent emerged from the water and continued to aggressively splash to make it clear to the unknown predator no one was touching her babies.

During the debriefing, junior discusses his concerns with dad.

Thankfully, the traumatic swimming lesson was over.  The goslings waddled ashore and hungrily ate shoots of grass.