Fred the Egyptian Goose

December 2008 was getting really cold, and we wondered if Fred would be okay. Soon she disappeared.

We often wondered what happened to her. We kept an eye out for her every time we visited the park. Would she return, would we ever get to see our "friend" again?

Well, today, July 25, 2009, we were sitting in our usual pavilion and we hear a strange, but familiar, honking sound. It wasn't the Graylags. It wasn't the Canadians. I sure sounded like our old friend Fred!

So we headed to the shore, camera in hand and spot some thing across the river on the rocks. What do I do? Whip out the camera, zoom in and take a photo. I then check my photo after zooming in even more, and guess what? FRED!

So I sent my sweetie to get bread, and the rest is "photo time"!

I will be putting up several new ones of Fred, but this photo says a lot: "I'm back"!

We saw this duck about 3 weeks ago, and never saw him again until two days ago.

He wouldn't let me take his photo! But today, I got tons of photos of this little guy!

He is a Green-winged Teal! And he is different, just like "Fred"! His name is "Simon"!

These new friends flew in about a week ago.

Fred welcomed them to, just like he welcomed "Simon" into the group!

Fred has quite a few "unusual" friends---just like him!

We always wondered what Fred's wings looked like.

As he strolls around, you'd never guess what a beauiful pattern of colors his wings are.

One day, he showed us!

Fred must make sure he looks his best, since he is such a unique bird to this area.

And he does.

Yesterday after is "breakfast", he headed to the river for a bath.

Here is Fred, just relaxing and pondering what to do next.

He looks beautiful watching over the water.

Actually, he hears his goose friends playing in the water. Shortly after this photo, he flew down to them!

(Video below)