Gosling Time in Chicago: Now It's Officially Spring

Bob Benenson
3 hours ago
2 min read

The first of my annual fluffball pilgrimages to Chicago's North Pond

I know that we are weeks into spring, I really do. The calendar says so. We're more than a month into baseball season (with the Cubs surging into first place and the White Sox looking much improved after a couple of miserable seasons). The outdoor farmers market season started on April 4, exactly a month ago. A few chilly days aside, we are getting very close to safely retiring the parkas until late this year.

But I have another measure for when it is officially official spring: when Chicago's very ample population of Canada geese debut their fluffy little gosling offspring. And on Sunday (May 3), that measure was met.

This occurred at one of my favorite places: North Pond in Lincoln Park. It is a bird sanctuary and a human sanctuary too, a place of beauty and serenity smack in the middle of this big and bustling city. It is also the place I go to commune with the geese and their adorable yellow baby birds. (Ducklings are coming soon, as usual a bit later than the goslings.)

If you are in or near Chicago, treat yourself to a visit. The little ones are charmingly cute, and the parents — unthreatened and as close to domesticated as wild geese get — don't bother humans, saving their combativeness for other geese that get too close to their turf and hissing at passing dogs.

And if you aren't at all interested, I'd be grateful if you'd indulge me. This really is one of my favorite parts of the year.

I also spied...

... a redwing blackbird...

,,, a male wood duck with its showoffy plumage...

,,, and one of the last flowering trees that hasn't already lost all of its spring blooms.

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