I had such a great time exploring trails at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge on Sunday. It was a bit muddy in spots due to all the rain lately, but the sun was shining for most of the morning, and I spent quite a bit of time following around several families of Canadian Geese.

It was so fun to watch the babies interact with the parents and each other. The more I watched them, the more I felt like I was watching my family, or any family for that matter, when we’re out and about with our children!

There were a few different families of various ages, and it was fun to see the similarities in each family, as well as the similarities to my own family…

No matter which group of geese I was watching, there was always one… You know, the cut up, the mess, the trouble-maker? There’s one in every group. Might not be the same goose each time, but there seems to always be one child who’s marching to a different drum beat!

These geese roam the refuge in search of food and good places to swim. For them, this means crossing several different roads to jump from pond to pond, while carefully navigating the refuge, skirting around and in front of all the cars searching for a fishing spot or just enjoying the views. It also means trying to escape the crazy lady with the camera who sometimes gets too close to the babies eating in the field of wildflowers (me)!

Lucky for these baby geese, they have very vigilant parents. There is always a mom or a dad close by monitoring the situations and when a car comes down the road, or I get too close with my camera, it’s time to move on! And off they go to the next spot. All in a straight little line, usually, following their leader.

Occasionally, one of them steps out of line, and that’s where I like to be with my camera. Right there, ready to catch the little stinker stepping out of line. Or maybe even dancing in the middle of the road, like on my latest visit!

Without fail, there’s always at least one little friend who wasn’t isn’t paying attention or following the lead of its parents. Those are my favorite photos, mostly because I feel like there is probably a matching photo of a toddler or young child behaving the same way as the dancing, baby goose I enjoyed watching on Sunday!

I was smiling all morning following these friends around. I hope you enjoy looking at the pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them!

Until next time…

P.S. As many of you know, Hagerman is one of my favorite places to visit. You can read more about it in my blog post titled Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge…One of My Happy Places.