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Shh, I’ll Tell You A Secret

If you think you’re going to read something spicy about me and my Mountain Man, you are going to be disappointed. This is one of those crazy bird lady posts.

My secret? I’m terrified of geese. As a 4 year old, I used to love going to the park to feed the geese and the ducks with my Dad. I was animal crazy even back then and in my 4 year old world, all animals loved me as much as I loved them. I was fearless of running up to geese who were almost my size. Until one day. As I approached the water, I was excited to see some baby goslings. That is until a big old Canadian goose came running at me and took a chunk right out of my leg. Ouch, it hurt. I ran screaming to safety and have never wanted anything to do with geese since then. No, nothing.

Until I fell in love with a picture. Sebastopols had me at first sight. But the question was which was stronger; my love of frills which remind me of wedding dresses or my fear of geese? Not even close. Wedding dresses and frills. I adore wedding dresses. Another secret; I even worked as a bridal consultant in another lifetime. But back to geese.

When I found out Sebastopols are descended from Roman Fighting Geese and can be quite feisty, I almost changed my mind. But I kept reading (long enough to find a book to agree with my point of view) and discovered if you purchase them as goslings, you can tame them quite easily and if you can’t tame them, well, they are dual purpose geese meaning you can go ahead and eat them. (Which you know I absolutely wouldn’t do.)

And now that I’m older I realize why that goose bit me so long ago. It was that primal mothering instinct we all have. I came between her and her babies. It’s not just us human mothers that protect our young. Even my tame turkey hen growled at me while she was hatching her eggs. Just her warning me to keep away and she meant it. Now that her babies are up and running, she is begging me with soulful glances to watch them for a few minutes so she can have a break from mothering duties. Sound familiar?

So how to raise goslings who will not want to bite me? Number one rule around geese is to move slowly. No fast movements, no sudden actions. Geese like everything in their world to move slowly. Not a problem here. I can’t remember the last time I moved fast.

Next I learned that goslings imprint strongly on the person who cares for them and will actually come to think of that person as “mom.” I’m up to that challenge being an experienced Mother to many species. And just like with human babies, there are rules to raising baby geese. The book says that goslings can become totally dependent on their mom and I must always aim to strike a balance to not make them too dependent on me. Read, don’t be an overprotective, smothering mom. Okay, I can handle that.

And lastly, I have to spend time with them daily, quality time, beyond their basic care and feeding. I check the book binding. What am I reading? Dr. Spock or a book about geese? Maybe there are universal concepts to mothering?

So the goslings arrive and shh, don’t tell anyone, but I’m just a little scared of them but I soon learn they are way more scared of me. They run and huddle in the farthest corner and collapse in a pile shaking. Oh, no. My maternal instincts start to surge.

I sit down quietly and whisper to them, sing them a lullaby or two and they start to relax. Enough for the day. We’ll take it slowly.

Every day, I feed them oh, so slowly and spend more time with them singing to them and soon they start to approach me. Now every time I sit with them, they come over and flop down around me, stretching their adorable big old webbed feet behind them. Making swimming motions I think. I’m enchanted.

I also learn geese are naturally noisy. A good addition to my dancing turkeys? And if they are busy singing with their beaks, there’s no way they’ll have time to bite me. Worth a try. I turn on Blondie’s “Call Me” and pump up the volume and wouldn’t you know it those baby goslings start honking away at the top of their tiny lungs. They are naturals. A great addition to the Red Pine Mountain zoo.

Every evening at dinner, I say to Mountain Man, “I love those crazy birds” and he just shakes his head and says “I know you do.”

Perhaps it’s not the birds who are crazy but I can honestly tell you I’m no longer afraid of geese.

Thanks one and all for visiting us. Mountain Man and I so enjoy your comments and we appreciate the time you spend here on Red Pine Mountain. May your day be filled with blessings and be free of biting geese.