On May 12, 2021, I saw a family of geese on a small patch of grass in Brooklyn Bridge Park. I memorialized the encounter in a December 2021 article. I describe that case as an “encounter” because one of the parental geese was watching me just as intently as I was watching the family through my phone camera lens. It has been said that the trees leaf in May. So to must be be said that the baby geese waddle around in May. On May 22, 2012, I came across a new family of geese on the same patch of grass that I was closely monitored by goose mother or father just more one year earlier.
Thise goose family was only about half the size of the family that I photographed last year (also see my short piece on a family of geese in Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn). These geese were not too interested in me. However, when a woman with a dog passed by on the other side of the grassy patch from where I was standing, the parental geese sprung into action – adopting an aggressive posture and slowly marching toward the woman and her dog. Instead of staying back, the baby geese stopped eaing and began walking slightly in front of the parents toward the dog (I am not goose security expert – but that does seem a bit counter-intuitive). To everyone’s good fortune, the woman eventually took a hint (it took longer than it should have, however) and dragged her dog in the direction of the next pier – which still features Kevin the hamster.