The pathway is beautiful near sunset

I wandered the Monument Valley Pathway along the North Platte River around 4 o’clock one recent winter afternoon.

The river was absolutely packed with honking Canada geese.

Some on the path side of the riverbank flew away at my approach.

Some of them hung out until someone’s off-leash German shepherd scared them off. (They’re not as dumb as some people give them credit for. They knew a pedestrian in the middle of the city was no threat.)

The whole line of geese stretched out in the current in the lee of a small island amused me.

It was fun watching their antics, especially the dramatic splashdowns and takeoffs, which I did not manage to capture adequately with my camera.

Then I saw this group of geese.

Huh. One of these things is not like the others.

Indeed.

That’s a northern pintail.

I'd never seen one before. I was pretty stoked.

Today’s supposed to be a relatively nice winter day. You should go for a walk on the pathway.

Go say goodnight to the geese.

Oh, and say “hi” to the ol’ coot for me, if you happen to see him drubbing around the riverbank.

I'm referring to the bird, not a person, you goof.

Copyright 2011 by Katie Bradshaw