Right below my downstairs deck on my condo, a mother goose has built a nest. When I first noticed her and her nest, he had three eggs. She now has seven eggs. I can only count them when she stands up to turn around. She sits on her nest day and night, rain or shine, keeping her eggs warm in hopes of seeing them hatch someday soon. She never seems to leave her nest, even to eat, but only to turn around and peck at her own chest. I read up on that peculiar habit only to find out that she does that to help "feather her nest."
The other day, I threw a piece of bread out on the water to see if she would get up and go eat it. She didn't move from her nest. A day or two later, my compassion for her was reaching a breaking point. I took another piece of stale bread, softened it in the microwave, and let it cool. I threw it toward her. It landed, a little out of reach for her, so she didn't leave her nest. I walked toward her and picked up the piece of bread. This caused her to stand and hiss at me as a warning to stay away. This time, I threw the bread to her and it landed within her reach from the nest. That did the trick! She started to peck at it, and because it was soft, she was able to break off and swallow small bits of the bread slice without leaving her eggs to the mercy of a predator. Since her nest is so near to the water, I hope she can take a break to ger a drink!
Compassion will cause you to do things that may not be for your own good! With a pond overrun with geese already, the last thing we need is seven more geese...and there may be more nests! Stay tuned to this blog. I may have a bunch of goslings swimming around with her in a few days! They are so cute when they are babies, but not so cute when they grow up and leave their poop all over the grass!
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