A Goose is Docile: Until it Isn't!
A Year of Noticing - Day 203
I noticed a number of Canada gesse resting, almost in the the middle of parking lots today. I’m not sure if this is due to habitat loss, the fact that their numbers continue to increase, or they enjoy being in wide open spaces where they can have good visibility from all sides. Some of the geese seemed to simply being taking a rest from the wind, most of them on their own, but one seemed to almost be perched upon grasses to form a nest.
In these positions, they seem so docile and relaxed. Vastly different from the one hissing at us as we walked along a path, nearby where he was feeding. We have taken to walking past with a hand over our heads, our fingers opening and closing like a beak in an effort to show that we are both bigger, and not necessarily a threat - but back off already! We have had a few encounters with Canada geese that have made us cautious of their protective attacks!
More than ten years ago, about this time of year I was at the local zoo with both my children. My youngest was still in a stroller, and my oldest, a toddler who loved running! It was a quiet day at the zoo, and one of my favourite places to allow my toddler to run freely!
We had just gone passed the arctic fox, and were heading towards the elk. It was a stretch with few animals to stop and look at, so my toddler decided it was full steam ahead - ready for the next encounter!
As he was running about fifteen feet ahead of me, I caught a glimpse of a Canada goose on the right side of the path, waddling towards the path. On the left side of the path was another goose on a small grassy knoll.
It was a moment where time seemed to move in slow motion. My mind moving faster than my mouth or body could act. In my mind I could almost visualize what was going to happen, but before I could yell ahead for my toddler to stop running, the goose was flying towards him and landed on thin blue toque on his head.
I literally threw the stroller backwards, keeping my one year old out of harms way, while I ran full tilt towards the goose on my toddler’s head. There was not thinking anymore, just reacting! I had to get that goose off his head!
I was probably screaming and waving my arms, as I raced forward, as the goose’s wings were flapping and he was still perched on my toddler’s head. As the goose heard and saw this crazed being runnning towards him, he launched off my toddler’s head and toward his partner on the otherside of the path.
After what felt like hours, but was less than seconds, I was reunited with my terrified toddler, who clung to me as I wrapped my arms around him and we both cried, and tried to catch our breath together.
“The wings were so loud mommy,” I remember he saying. And for years after, the only thing he could recount in that moment was the sound of the goose’s wings, flapping beside his tiny ears. All I could remember was the sheer panic, fear, and protective instincts that burst out of me in an instant.
Both the goose and I, connected by our primal instinct to protect the ones we love more than anything in this world.
Both the goose and I, acting out of both fear and love.
Both the goose and I, forever changed by that moment - a new understanding for the protective instinct of the other.
Both the goose and I, can be easy-going and calm, until we perceive that one of our young are under threat, and then we will do whatever it takes to protect our babies!
I’m not sure if I have met that goose again, but now I talk to the geese I encounter. And we are all just a little more cautious, and give them a little more space.
And we never run when we are around geese anymore!
xo