I took a short bike ride this morning down the Indian Bend Wash path and and then doubled back through Chaparral Park this morning, stopping by the bird island on the south end of the park. It’s spring, and was hoping to see if there were any baby geese or ducks around.
I spotted several eggs out on the island (circled in red). Yes, they are really lying out there in the open.
And, in a few days, or maybe a little longer, they’ll be hatching and looking like this:
These three baby geese (goslings) from last year were adorable, and definitely drew a crowd.
There’s parking on the east side of the lake, when you enter from Chaparral Road. Otherwise, you can enter further north on Jackrabbit, park, and then walk south to the lake.
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As cute as these babies are – they also grow up to be nuisances and health hazards. Living across the street from the park and having 3 ponds on our association property we see the ducks/geese have lunch and play on not only our pond and wash property, but swim in our pools, sleep on our lawns and poop all our property which gets into our homes on our shoes and carrying disease (including meningitis which I had recently-we can’t say for sure what actually caused the meningitis but I have my suspicions).
I first moved here 5 years ago and thought the babies were so cute – the little families crossing the street and swimming all lined up.
I still think they are cute, but they are also a nuisance. There are very humane ways to discourage them including – cutting the lawn shorter! Its one thing to have a few living in a public park or have winter visitors, but these guys are year round residents.
The city of Scottsdale in cooperation with the neighborhood is trying to come up with ways to help reduce the hazards without harming the animals. This action should be hailed as brave by the city and neighborhood, because as you say they are cute, adorable and fun to watch and feed and no one wants to hurt little ducklings!
Hi Suzanne, Did you see that the City of Scottsdale is now going to fine people who feed the ducks and geese? That may help with some of the nuisance issues that you mentioned. Hope so.
http://www.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/2012/06/13/20120613scottsdale-feed-ducks-face-fine-jail.html