Initial Lessons From Geese

After many years of living with the various flocks of Canada geese that come and go from Frog Hollow’s pond, two distinct personalities came forward from the flocks to change a human mind and teach her some things about their species. Back in 2005, I had a love/hate thing going with the geese – we had a ton of them here. My neighbors/friends/landlords have a bird feeding area and the geese would cross in front of my house to get to this feeding area. The front of my house and the path to my car was filled with goose droppings. This minefield of slime always ended up on the bottom of my shoes and was tracked everywhere. The noise was also another factor driving me absolutely crazy. And to make matters worse, I really had some issues with this one goose. S/he seemed to be trying to piss me off even more than I already was. Whenever I walked in or out my front door, this goose became very vocal and would lunge like it was going to attack. I finally reached my breaking point within a matter of weeks. I did not want to deal with these critters at all. I even contemplated a move when images of strangling every goose began to dance through my thoughts!

Fortunately, my neighbors/friends decided to follow my recommendation and installed a fence to enclose the feeding area. The geese stopped coming and things went back to normal within a matter of days. However, a week had not even passed when I was in the process of getting dressed one morning and happened to glance out the bedroom window, and saw a solo goose standing on the roof. I grumbled at the sight of it. A few minutes later, I walked by the window again and saw a big old egg out there, which stopped me dead in my tracks. I had just come out of goose hell and was not at all happy to see this! Aside from putting myself at risk there was no way of getting that goose or that egg off my roof. I was now being forced to live up close and personal with the very critters I wanted to kill just days before. Not to mention, leaving and entering my home became much more challenging. Turns out, the goose I had issues with happened to be the mate for the one laying eggs on my roof. Unbeknown to me at that time, he had been protecting their nesting site, which was right over my one and only door. In my mind, this had to be some sort of goose conspiracy and I was hating life at that moment! In short of moving or contracting an exterminator which was not gonna happen, I had to figure out a way to make peace and quickly -  it was a given we all had to get along – at least until the eggs hatched anyway.

My first attempts with mother goose did not go over well. I decided to give her a bowl of drinking water one afternoon while she was baking in the hot sun. I began talking to her while slowly rolling the window open. She began to hiss. My soft tones and slow movements calmed her so this was taken as a sign to proceed. I was standing on my tip-toes with the top half of my body leaning way outside the window, and had just placed the bowl of water close to her nest when she skipped the hissing and let out a honk. Her mate came flying out of nowhere instantly. I heard him hissing above me. Words cannot accurately describe the feelings when my head turned and I saw this hovering open winged shadow with a big black beak inches from my face. I suddenly felt much like an ant encountering a gigantic bird. I retreated like a rocket and rolled the window closed as quickly as possible. The next few days were spent talking and throwing whole grain bread crumbs out through a cracked window, which went over a little better with both. Her nest was small so I decided to gather some dry grass to put on the roof. Although, approaching my house with this bundle and then getting around the male guarding the door/roof required a bit of a dance. Then the female freaked when the grass emerged from the window, which inevitably brought him right up there to defend her. It took about a week of cautious interaction before both settled down and began to trust me.

Initially, the male spent his time flying back and forth from the pond to my house. In addition to protecting the female, he was also protecting a section of the pond from other land squatters looking for any opportunity to move in. This prime pond real estate provided a perfect view of my house and was clearly being reserved for the new goslings. Which was yet another area of concern – I had no clue how they would get off the roof without injury and was already thinking of possible ways to assist. After trust was established, the male rarely flew up to my house. He got to frolic in the pond while the female baked in the hot sun on the roof. After watching him for a while, his regal stance along with his personality reminded me of someone you might refer to as “Sir.” Therefore, I began to call him “Sir Goose” and named the female “Molly.” My relationship with Molly developed smoothly over the course of the coming weeks. She had a sweet gentle personality and reminded me much of a little princess – a perfect match for one Sir Goose. Within a short time, I noticed all previous hate thoughts towards these critters were rapidly being replaced with deeper feelings of respect and appreciation. There were times when I wondered if Molly had chosen and/or was directed by some unseen force to bypass nesting around the pond to help me become more aware of their lives – which would not have happened had she not nested on my roof…

It was warm enough for my windows to be open, and Molly was living right outside my bedroom window. I could hear her every move at night and she got to hear every sound in my house as well. It was like we were living and sleeping in the same room. Being on the roof kept her eggs safe from our resident fox but they along with the raccoons could still climb the nearby tree. Not to mention, there was always the possibility of a hawk swooping down to challenge her for an egg during the day. Yep, I was like a worried mother – feeding her – paying attention to the sky during the day, and maintaining awareness to the sounds every night. My newfound level of respect grew stronger with each passing day. The devotion these critters exhibit for their unborn and for each other is truly incredible. Even though Sir Goose was nowhere near Molly, he was so tuned in that the slightest noise coming from the direction of my house never escaped him. I witnessed several occasions when he appeared to be oblivious while swimming in the pond, but if the faintest sound came from Molly (or me) he did an instant about face and was ready to fly. It was also amazing to watch the level of dedication Molly demonstrated for her eggs. Incubation lasts for one month. Other than a few minutes soon after sunrise for a little pond time, she sat on that nest for 24/7. I also do not recall her eating very much during this time either. The gentle and loving way she cared for those eggs touched my heart. Her days and nights were spent rotating her body around the nest along with methodically turning, and repositioning each egg just so. In the mornings she spent more time covering her eggs with her down feathers than she actually spent on the pond. What became apparent as I observed the life of the goose species was many a human being could learn a few lessons from them. Too many pregnant women do not take good care of themselves, and are extremely stressed which must be communicated to the fetus growing within. Additionally and as the high levels of divorce reflect, most human couples are not as deeply connected. They do not know how to communicate, nor do they demonstrate much respect for each other. Not to mention, human parents do need to be present and work more together to take better care of their young. Ironic how most of us are raised to believe animals are inferior, especially when they demonstrate some essentials lacking within the majorities of the alleged superior species. Go figure.

The weeks were going by quickly. We were in the closing stretch of incubation when a few workers showed up to leave some tools for work beginning on my house after the Mother’s Day weekend. Sir Goose flew up and was outside screaming. I went to the door to check on him and saw a few startled men stopped dead in their tracks with one or two backing away. This made me giggle, and I pointed to Molly to let them know this ranting goose had no interest in hurting them and was only protecting his family. I had forgotten about this appointment but the stress for Molly and Sir Goose was a concern. My neighbor friend initially laughed when I suggested we maybe postpone this work until after the eggs hatched. I had been very serious with my request but also saw the humor in how these men might respond if asked to wait on a goose! That night Sir Goose joined Molly on the roof and stood guard for the first time. I awakened in the middle of the night to a loud thud followed with one sharp honk and then some grumbles. I initially thought a raccoon or fox was around. I listened to the rustle in the ferns and got to the window just in time to see Sir Goose reappear to resume his guard duties. I cracked up laughing. He must have been standing too close to the edge when he had fallen asleep and then fell off the roof. This image had me laughing myself back to sleep. Sir Goose stood guard for a second night, and managed to remain on the roof this time. On Mother’s Day I went to the window to say good morning. The nest was empty – all eggs were gone. I pulled the screen and leaned out the window to survey the pond. Two very proud parents with their young were all in the water.

What is interesting is that shortly after the eggs hatched, I learned geese could either speed up or slow down the process. The men showing up along with my growing concern must have alerted the parent geese. Sir Goose and Molly must have known they needed to clear out and communicated something to each other. Additionally, Molly must have communicated something to her young because the incubation was cut short by 5-7 days. It takes 24-48 hours for chicks to crack their shells open, and these young ones obviously went to work on cracking their way out soon after the men appeared. Within 48 hours, my concerns had been put to rest with a departing gift that the geese gave to their surrogate mother on Mother’s Day. After Molly left, I felt like I was going through a bit of an empty nest syndrome. I missed her enriching presence on my roof. Our paths had clearly separated. My life returned to normal while Molly and Sir Goose raised their young on the pond. It should be noted that geese normally return to the same nesting sites every year. However, in 2006 my old roof was under construction. In 2007 there wasn’t enough debris on my new roof to work with. Therefore, I believed Molly and Sir Goose were long gone and had found a better nesting site – until a geese trio showed up on my roof in 2008.