Love Triangle - Goose Style

- Cool and crisp this morning, after the passage of a weather front over the weekend that brought rain and eventually lower temperatures to our southeast Tennessee area.

- The Redbuds are blooming in the mountains, the first leaves have appeared in the Sequatchie Valley (not very many in the mountains as yet), the creeks are swollen and noisy from spring rains, and the birds at at peak activity.

- The attached provide a pictorial of the competive, and sometimes nasty, disposition of the male Canada Goose during the spring mating period. From bottom to top.....

- Two male geese size each other up and posture for position as a nearby female takes on the role of a submissive, and seemingly uninterested, bystander (I couldn't tell if she was smiling).....

- The battle gets heated as the female looks on.......

- One of many chase scenes back and forth across the lake.....

- One male flies alongside his rival.....but they were simply moving from one battleground to the next......

- The top photos are of a comparatively docile pair of House Finches (the more colorful male is in the background...and yes, it was raining when the photo was taken). Their nest was approximately 10' away.