GIMPY (AN EXTRAORDINARY LITTLE CANADA GOOSE)

            GIMPY is a very special young Canadian Goose (Branta Canadensis),  who was born early in 2014 with a severe disability. 

My wife's company moved into new premises in Dartford in July this year and that's when she first became acquainted with Gimpy and his three sibliings and single parent who looked after them all.  As can be seen in the photograph, both his wings are deformed, no more than stumps that sit at a permanently jaunty angle,  and are unable to move, develope or aid flight. My wife started feeding Gimpy and his siblings and watched them all grow and develope into young adults, before doing what comes naturally and taking to the wing, leaving little Gimpy alone in the lake to fend for himself.  

Against the odds, Gimpy has survived, making friends with any Geese or Swans that frequent the lake,  (he seems to think he is a Swan himself despite their persistant nips and abuse telling him otherwise), as well as becoming a much loved feathered celebrity with locals and pasers by, and staff at my wife's workplace who all feed him.  Today, Sunday 12th September, my wife drove me to meet the Gimp Meister in the flesh, and I have to say I fell in love with the little fella. Such a cutie with a great determination and tenacity amidst the feisty swans and other wading birds, first to the food handouts, standing on your feet as he grabs both the food and your affection.

Gimpy, you are an extraordinary character, and a little beauty as well.

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Photograph taken at 10:25am an altitude of ten metres on Sunday 12th September 2014 off Bob Dun Way and Marsh Street in Dartford, Kent, England.  

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Nikon D800 22mm 1/1600s  f/2.8  iso100 RAW (14 bit) Hand held. Manual focus. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance.

Nikkor AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G ED IF. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL batteries. Nikon DK-17M Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit. 

LATITUDE: N 51d 27m 36.59s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 14m 13.19s
ALTITUDE: 10.0m 

RAW  (TIFF) FILE SIZE:        103.00MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE:      15.02MB

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Processing power: 
HP Pavillion Desktop with AMD A10-5700 APU processor. HD graphics. 2TB with 8GB RAM. 64-bit Windows 8.1. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. Nikon VIEWNX2 Version 2.10.0 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit

Taken in: United Kingdom / England / Dartford / Joyce Green (show map)

Taken on: October 12, 2014

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Sets appears in: • CREATURE FEATURES (2)

Groups appears in: • NIKON PROFESSIONAL • Nikon Bird Photos - No 30/60 Groups Limit

Camera: Nikon D800, f/2.8, 1/1600 sec, 22mm, ISO 200 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D800
Aperture:	f/2.8
Exposure Time:	0.001 sec (1/1600)
Focal Length:	22mm
ISO:	200
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0 Windows
Show full info

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