a voice for the voiceless
Last week I saw the goslings at the sanctuary for the first time this year. Tiny yellow balls of fluff, they are one of those many signs of new life in the springtime that make us smile. There’s just something about babies…as much as we try to not be ageist, I wonder if there is anyone who doesn’t feel that special tenderness when they see those tiny little bits of life.
At the sanctuary, there is an extra special twist to the story of the goslings. Most of the Canadian Geese who spend time at the sanctuary are wild, not rescues. Though it is hard to tell whether individuals are staying year round, there seems to be wild geese at the sanctuary year round. Perhaps they simply know a good thing when they see it – a protected place with everything geese could want. There are also some rescued domestic geese who are permanent residents. These domestic geese play nanny to the wild-born goslings every year. The wild geese seem to be content to have the domestic geese follow them and their brood along, and the domestic geese are very protective of the goslings they have adopted. It is an odd couple type relationship, but it clearly works.
Dave told a story today about one of the domestic geese. She adopted this group of slightly older goslings – they’re only about 3 weeks old, but the goslings grow so fast that they hardly look anything like the younger babies! A few nights ago the wild geese took these four babies down to the lower pond after Jolene was already in the barn for the night. (She spends the night in the pig barn.) When Jolene came out in the morning, she was upset that her adopted family was not at the upper pond, the one that is near the pig barn. She spend the morning wandering around looking for them, and when she finally saw them parading up from the lower pond, she ran over to them honking and carrying on.
Her attachment to her adopted family couldn’t have been more clear.
If you look closely at that picture, you might be able to barely make out a goat on top of the blue truck in the background.
Yup, that’s my truck, and that would be Lenny. I parked underneath some yummy trees, and Lenny and Jeremy made good use of my truck to strip the lower branches bare. Those boys! (This is why they’re not allowed out of the main goat yard when there are visitors…)
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Jolene’s story and the photo of the goats on the truck just made my day. Absolutely made my day. I said it on Twitter, but I’ll say it again: Lenny and pals on the truck must appear in the next calendar. Simply must.
Total cuteness! (I hope your truck survived it!)
Stephanie, Glad you enjoyed it! Mary’s already said that she wants a calendar just of the goats, so I have a feeling I’ll end up doing 2 versions of a calendar this year!
Kelly, the truck survived just fine! Probably some extra dents in the camper top and some scuff marks on the truck, but at 15 years old and 184k miles, I’m just not worried about that kind of thing. (Not sure I ever would have been…just can’t put that much importance on the cosmetics of a vehicle, I guess!) It’s worth it to me to see them being so goofy and having so much fun. Though it isn’t really a habit that Terry and Dave want to encourage.
Beautiful, makes me wonder all over again how most of the world cannot see the depth of emotions in these beings.
I’ve changed my mind: goats and geese. This time of year there’s so much bad news about geese (at least in my life–they’re on my radar) and there’s nothing like reading some good news at the beginning of the day to set the tone.
Thanks again!
@Nancy – I hear you! I am amazed by that as well, and can’t explain why people insist that cows “want to die” (says my coworker) or that they’re “barely smarter than the grass they eat”.
@Mary – Glad I could share some of the happy geese stories, and of course the goats that I know you love. I’ll definitely include some of the geese in the Mary-version of the calendar.
Love the pictures Deb! I volunteered for the first time on Sunday, and am totally in love. I wish I could make it out there more often. I felt like it was heaven on earth, where everyone was happy and friendly. I loved the goats so adorable but I totally have a major crush on the turkey (Gobbles??) eventually I’ll know most, if not all their names…
Nope…I think it was Victor I was talking about…you should make like a “family album” for the volunteers out of all your pictures…
Kristen, I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Terry mentioned that you’d be out on Sunday when I talked to her on Saturday, so I thought of you as I wrote this post! I know what you mean about the sanctuary. Another volunteer and I often joke to Terry that it is like therapy for us.
Victor is, indeed, the turkey you’re thinking of ! He’s so funny.
I’ve been doing calendars for the past couple years. So far that’s as close to a family album as I’ve gotten! Things change constantly, it would be hard to keep the album current! Maybe someday I’ll work on something like that though.