There are two small ponds on my property in east Spalding County and I try to make them as wildlife friendly as possible. Both have wood duck nesting boxes and floating goose nest platforms on them. The ducks and geese seem to like them.

Last year a pair of geese raised a couple of goslings on one pond and one of them stayed after the others left. It still hangs around with a female mallard duck. They have been inseparable all year. I really thought the goose would take up with other geese when they came back to nest, but it has not. I call them the odd couple.

Geese checked out both ponds and a pair nested on the lower one about a month ago. About a week later a pair nested on the upper pond, too. A week ago the eggs hatched on the lower pond and I saw the pair of adult geese with five little yellow puffballs following them around.

The next day no geese were on the lower pond, but when I went to the upper pond the pair had moved up there with their five little ones. They had moved about 100 yards through the woods, swimming in the little creek and walking around brush jams and up the dam. For several days they moved back and forth between the ponds.

I saw them several days in a row, then one day there was only one gosling left. I guess a hawk, snake, weasel, raccoon, turtle or some other critter had a meal of four little geese. The pair still moves back and forth between the two ponds with just the one left. It has doubled in size in a week.

When they are on the upper pond it gets funny. The odd couple is there as is the pair nesting on the platform. When one of the pair with the little one gets near, or one of the odd couple approaches the nest, the male tries to chase them off while the female stays on the nest.

I never realized Canada geese could swim underwater until I watched one last week. The goose of the odd couple got too close to the nest and the male attacked him. He would dive under, swim about 15 feet them pop back up. That did not stop the attacking goose and I saw the one fleeing swim underwater three different times.

Also, the pair with the little one got too close to the edge of the water and my dog Rip took off after them. The gosling dove and swam out of sight under water half way across the pond. That is a good escape tactic but I did not know geese could do that.

It is fun watching the geese, especially the little one, try to get near enough to eat the fish food I throw out without getting too close. The little one will head toward me and the parents will be right behind it, making noises that I take to be saying “Be careful, don’t get too close!”

The eggs in the nest the one is still siting on should hatch soon. It takes about three weeks for the eggs to hatch. I am not sure they will hatch since there was one egg in that nest that was abandoned. I hope she is not sitting on that bad egg.

Baby birds of all kinds are hatching right now. I remember many times while I was growing up watching nest, counting the eggs and learning the different colors and numbers of eggs birds laid. All too often I would find a baby bird on the ground and try to feed it and keep it alive. Earthworms were easy to get and I fed them all they wanted, but all of the baby birds died within a day or so.

Some baby birds abandon the nest immediately and are able to move around. Ducks and geese can swim almost immediately after hatching. Last year wood ducks hatched on both ponds and soon got together. I would see an adult with 10 or 11 little ones behind it. I guess it was the baby-sitter.

I have read that some kinds of woodpecker chicks leave the nest immediately after hatching. The nest smells and attracts predators that would eat them, so they leave and hop out on branches or go to the ground where the mother keeps them fed.

Birds and they ways of nesting and raising young are amazing. The great variety of ways they nest, from hollow trees to small depressions on the ground to the familiar twig and stick nest in bushes and trees is fun to study. Some, like hummingbird nest, are unbelievable.

Watch for nesting birds. Enjoy them without disturbing them. They can entertain and amaze you.