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Tue 19 Feb, 2008 07:11 am
A few weeks ago a Canadian goose caught my attention around 7am when I heard it calling out in distress. I looked up and saw it frantically calling and flapping to beat all hell. it was alone, which I thought was weird. Within a minute the flock returned, and as soon as she caught up to them they turned and went back the way they had been going. She kinda fell in line, but was still more in the center of the back of the V.
I thought it was sweet that they would come back for her.
The next night, I heard her again. This time she was flying alone, squawking and carrying on but heading towards the opposite direction which I assumed meant she was returning to their night spot. No one came to help her find her way. After about ten minutes she quietened down. I assumed she found her group.
A few days later we repeated the morning routine.
A few days after that we repeated the evening routine.
A few days after that we repeated the morning routine, except they stopped coming back for her.
I just witnessed it again. Alone, squawking up a storm, no one coming back for her. Very distressed.
It's too early / cold for eggs and babies, right? Or, is there a chance she is trying too hard to keep them warm and the others take off for breakfast without her?
Do you think she has a flawed navigational gene? Is the pack trying to weed her out or just tired of her over sleeping and then wanting sympathy?
Canadian geese mate for life. Perhaps she has lost her mate and is refusing to go on until she finds him.
Awww! Doggone it, Gus. You just brought a little tear to my eye.
I wanna live in your world. :wink:
C'mon over. Wipe your feet at the door.
She's probably a Maple Leafs fan in a flock of Senators fans.
She never ever catch up and frankly, they're sick of her squawking.
George, are you "pucking" with me?
It's just my puckish sense of humor.
gustavratzenhofer wrote:
Never mind me. I'm just looking for squinney's goose thread so I can drop off this gif
(Gus got lost and dropped that off on a different thread. No need to thank me.)
You got a goose from Gus?
George wrote:You got a goose from Gus?
He mistook me for squinney. (At least that is what he
said.)
Thank you, wandeljw. You are always such the gentleman.
I hope he didn't make you wipe your feet before he goosed ya. That would be SO rude.
squinney wrote:Thank you, wandeljw. You are always such the gentleman.
I hope he didn't make you wipe your feet before he goosed ya. That would be SO rude.
No, but he didn't take me to dinner either. That was even ruder.
So, is everyone thinking this may just be a grey goose getting all cooked up over the loss of her lover?
I guess that's better than a gene challenged goose...
Still wondering why she didn't get into formation when they came back for her. Maybe that's part of the Canadian goose mourning rituals?
Squinney--
Perhaps she's disoriented from grief? Several years ago I read an amateur naturalist's account of life on her pond. One of a pair of Canada geese was killed and the survivor was confused and prone to erratic behavior for most of the summer.
I'm voting with the Romantics. We had a goose killed on the side of our road a few years back and the mate sat next to it for three days before flying off. She (he?) apparently fended off carcass predators like opossum because we would hear her honking furiously late at night and early morning. My husband thought she would leave if we disposed of the body, but she went crazy honking and flapping at him when he approached, so he gave up.
Ann Landers once published a letter from a man who said he was giving up hunting. He said he had shot a goose and when he went to retrieve it the bird's mate flew down and sat next to the body. The mate then stretched out his wing and covered the fallen goose as if embracing it. He said after seeing that he could never kill anything again. It's why my father never hunted goose, he said he couldn't stand to think he might be breaking up a happy couple.
Squinney--
Where is your kidney stone?
How sad, especially if they are young when one is killed.
Kidney stone is unseen and only occasionally felt as a twinge in the same location. Off my meds... So everyone watch out!
Squinney--
I'm dedicating my next glass of water (naturally soft water) to your kidney stone.
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