Posing with Puddles

Last December we blogged about Jay Norwood “Ding” Darling and the Blue Goose logo he designed, which became the national symbol of the refuge system.

The refuge system owns a number of Blue Goose costumes which can be borrowed for special events. The Blue Goose  appeared in the Texoma area at the first ever Red River Birding and Nature Festival, in 2005, and subsequently has been seen at a number of area events, including Earth Day Texoma 2010, and the Grand Opening for the new Refuge Office and Visitor Center at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge  in 2011.

The Blue Goose has even appeared on local television, KXII, accompanied by Refuge Assistant Manage Rick Cantu and Friends president, Dick Malnory.

Folks enjoy having their photo taken with the Blue Goose, whose name is Puddles, by the way.  So – as the costume is not always available nor  is  a person to wear it always available, the Friends hatched a plan to create their own Blue Goose for photo purposes.

The costume was sent for, and local photographer Wyatt Spurgeon donated his skills to photograph a Friend whom shall not be named,  as the goose.  Wyatt helped the Friends locate a photo lab that could print a life size version mounted on foam core, as the photo-prop Blue Goose.

Now cardboard Puddles stands ever ready to be photographed at special events (Texoma Earth Day 2011, shown below) and  with refuge visitors, who receive the photo, with "Hagerman NWR" and the date added, by email, as a free souvenir of their visit to the Refuge.