Goose Loves Man

That was entertaining, EB, thanks . . .

That's so lovely. To what would science attribute this attraction or connection?

Edgar, Animals are a constant source of surprise. Thanks for the video.

Man Bites Dog, now that's news



cool story edgar

We have swans in our lake and a certain one will come down our canal. All I have to do is sound out a "click" and he comes right to me. Mainly because he knows that I have some bread for him.

One snowy spring, he did come up to the house and look in the window.

I never attributed it to anything other than his knowing I would have food.

I akways remember that he is a wild bird and I have seen him attack other males and even people on jetskiis, beating the rider with his huge wings.

So I am always cautious.

People feed these birds bread. Not a good idea. It gives them liver disease. We feed ducks and geese at the park several times per week. We buy bags of feed that are designated for them. The kind we currently use even has a few peanuts in it. The birds will crack the shell and eat just the peanuts.

That's really crazy.
I had a similar thing happen years ago, that I'd forgotten about til now.

I used to take my daughter and nieces to a pond at a nearby cemetary that had lots of geese. There was one goose, looked just like the one in the video, took a liking to me from day one. The first time it saw me it came running over honking and climbed in my lap. The kids fed the other geese, but I never did, this one wasn't interested in being fed.
It was pretty bizarre, this goose always recognized me a long way off and came running, it would even chase the other geese away.

Thanks for reminding me about that.

Great story, wayne. Thanks.

I love that story!

Loved the video.

I used to walk the venice canals sometimes, on my way to the ocean. I also walked a lot of other routes, but this one was very accessible. When I first knew the canal housing, it was derelict but comfortable. I have somewhere batches of photos, in negatives. Fifteen or twenty years later, the mc mansions came in with the real estate gimmies. Plus the odd architectural effort, though as an arch watcher, if there was something wonderful, I missed it.

Anyway, one day I was walking to the beach via the canals and a goose ran up to meet me.

I'm a dumb re animals to some extent but also, not always. So far so good.
In this case, I thought the goose wanting to go for my knees was funny. He or likely she was standing by the very locally built playground. I tried to talk, to no avail, so I skipped along as I was wearing shorts and had exposed knees.

None of this surprised me, as I had experienced Foxy, our neighbor's duck. She was a better neighborhood guard than our irish setter, who would bark at anything at all.

Oh that passionate goose!
That was delightful, edgar.

Having seen that & read Wayne's post, too ... I wonder on what basis such a goose decides a particular person is its "chosen one?"
Wouldn't that be fascinating to know?

It must be instantaneous for the goose, olga. What the chosen guy has that the goose wants is a mystery to me.

Yeah, me too, edgar.
But fascinating all the same.
I mean, why would that particular goose come running across the park on its very first sighting of Wayne & sit happily on his lap? And keep welcoming him which such enthusiasm on each subsequent visit?
I figure that goose knows something that mere humans couldn't possibly comprehend.

I wondered about that too, it even seemed like some kind of psychic thing.
At first, the goose made me a bit nervous, I thought it was coming to attack me. Really a strange and curious event.
I have some friends who live about an hour away, so I see them every so often. They have a westy named Cooper that I consider my friend. I stopped by last fall and hung out in the studio they have in their barn, Cooper didn't see me arrive, so didn't know I was there. When he came into the barn, he ran past where I sat and I watched him do the most comical doubletake when he caught my scent and raced back to sit in my lap.
Animals definitely have some sense ability beyond present human capacity. They are definitely fascinating.

Maybe it is psychic?
Whatever this fascinating "something" is, wayne, it definitely sounds like you've got it!
I'd consider that the highest possible (animal) endorsement.


BTW, I see from your profile that you're from Oz.
Me too, plus a few others, as you would have seen .
Good to see a boost to our numbers here. Before long we'll take over!
Anyway, a pleasure to meet you.

silly msO...

he's from the real Oz.

up the crick a ways from me.

yer gonna get the munchkins riled up with talk like that...

Actually, I'm from the oz where Dorothy lives. Some years back there was a tourism promotion calling it the land of ahs, I'm assuming you thought I meant the other oz. Rockhead and I are practicly neighbors.

When it comes to the animals, it just seems to happen once in a great while like that. When I think about it, it isn't much different than some of my human relationships. I have a few friends that we just liked each other from first sight. Animals kind of seem to be the same, some of them I don't like, some are just aloof, and some don't like me.
The friendship dynamic has become of great interest to me in the last ten years or so. My friendships from earlier years were built on some level of that common attraction at first. Now I have some friendships that were built the hard way, based more on principles than personalities. It has been an interesting learning experience.

I look back on those experiences, like the goose, and think of them as passing connections, friendships. I am reminded of the Russian saying, I don't know the Russian words, but it means " men are not mountains" they say it rather than goodbye when they part with someone they've made a connection with.

Ah! I see!
Thanks for clearing that up, wayne.
(At least I won't be saying stuff like "Bewdy, mate!" & thoroughly confusing you!
It's still a pleasure to meet you, anyway!)

Interesting thoughts about connections made with animals & with humans.
The temporary & the longer lasting connections ... & acceptance of the nature of relationships being this way.
I agree with you.

You know, I suspect animals' instincts about humans are pretty accurate, perhaps more accurate, a lot of the time, than our initial assessments of other humans. We humans are far trickier to read, by far.

It's a pleasure to meet you also. I've always had a fascination with your oz.

I agree that animals read humans pretty accurately. I'm not so sure that we are all that hard to read though. Your word, though, was tricky and yes we are that. The trick is that we are often too willing to believe what we want to hear. The predators and users of the world know too well how to appear kind and caring. Give me a blunt curmudgeonly type any day.