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April 14, 2008
Typical
Broose the Goose, originally uploaded by duckavenger.
I had to chuckle when I saw a front page story in Tribune about two geese who have set up a nest in front of a furniture store in Naperville. The female goose is sitting on some eggs, and the gander is one protective dad:
There, on parking lot landscaping of wood chips and dead plants, two Canada geese have made a home.
The female spends most of her days atop a pile of six or seven eggs, occasionally rising to reorganize them with her long black beak.
But the male gets ornery, bordering on hostile, when he believes his progeny, which are due to hatch in early May, are threatened. With surprising speed and power, he has gone after numerous customers since the last weekend of March, drawing blood from about five.
Those who get past the birds and into the store—which really isn't difficult if you know the birds are there—are treated to an upclose view of bird life through a double-pane window. And despite the bloodshed, the birds have been good for business.
Not for nothin, but in my experience, geese are always pissed off. Growing up, we had this pond. In the pond we put three geese - Chinese geese, like the ones pictured above. Any time anybody got near the pond, they would start honking. Then, they would stretch their long necks, put their heads down, and charge. An able-bodied human could run faster than the geese, but occasionally they'd catch someone off guard. At night, their honking could be heard from a quarter mile away.
Once, we had a cookout, and my dad made a small enclosure of chicken wire to keep them from attacking the guests. Geese aren't the smartest animals, and one of them managed to get stuck in the wire. I went to free it, but he bit me. Talk about ungrateful.
Eventually, they died. A couple of them lived to be nearly twenty years old. We got some more, but they wandered off and were never seen again. The pond is definitely safer, but I'd say it has a lot less character.
entry no. 1125
Posted at April 14, 2008 10:41 AM