HawkTalk: Goosey, goosey gander

Hey ya'll,

I hope you're enjoying your weekend and perhaps it will be late Sunday night before you read this because you're having too much fun in the yard to come inside.

I got a call a few weeks ago from my friend, Jane-Allen. She reports that her friend out in Dallas was upset about a young Canada Goose that had been dumped off at her apartment complex pond. The other geese were being unkind to him (you know how geese can be) and all the rest of it, and could she and her friend please bring it to me. I said, "I need a goose like I need another hole in my head, but what the hell. Come on."

Well, 'Johnson' has fit right in. He flies up to the roof to play weather vane at least once a day and follows me around the property like a dog. He's hand shy, but will take food from you (he IS a goose, after all).

It took 12 days before he would get in the pond. He was so funny. It was like he was scared of the water or something because he would ZOOM back and forth, flapping furiously, "OMG, OMG...I can't believe I'm actually in the water!" Then he would jump out and preen like there's no tomorrow.

Back before Fish & Wildlife Service told me that I could no longer confine him at night unless I have him on my Possession Permit (**sigh**), I would go out at dusk and 'herd' him up to his kennel, where he had a nice covered bed, a bowl of cracked corn and a kiddy pool waiting. These days however, he's on his own overnight, but when I go out to check on him before I go to bed, he's laying between a potted plant and a table with his butt sticking out. I guess he figures if he can't see out, then no one can see him. (he IS a goose, after all)

He has started flying around a bit, has found his voice and is no longer paranoid when he's in the pond. I have finally been able to get some photographs that are in focus.

"You want me to go in THERE?"