Subject: Boon Geeses
Date: Nov 6 20:52:41 2003
From: Jerry Blinn - 76506.3100 at compuserve.com



>>>>>>>>> "For what it's worth, our visitors behaved much more wildly
than the surrounding Canadas. They spooked more quickly and often were the
only two geese leaving the scene." <<<<<<<<<<<<,


This observation caused me to wonder: How would two escapees behave after
a life of leisure in a pen, probably frequently within view or earshot
of vehicles and humans, and likely dogs and other animals?

My first thought is that escapees would behave exactly the opposite of
the described behavior of the Bowerman birds -- comfortable, at ease, in
face of the common disturbances caused by man.

HOWEVER, the other side of my brain suggests that escapees might be
~really~ spooky. After all, they have lost their home! They are in an
environment so foreign it might actually be scary! They are having to
forage for their food for the first time in their lives. That's got to wake
up a lot of stuff in the primitive parts of their brains, stuff about
survival, fear, flight -- stuff that never, ever, leaves the brain because
its hard-wired. And those other creatures that surround them -- we know
Canadas, they always take shots at birds that don't look like them. ~I~
would be really spooky surrounded by Canadas bigger than me. In fact, I'd
be spooky surrounded by normal size Canadas -- if you've ever had one
attack you, you know what I mean.

Imagine you and your sister, let's say as children, plucked up from your
back yard and dropped into the middle of, say, India. How would you behave?
I'd suggest ~really~ spooky -- especially when surrounded by an "alien
race," as the Pink Beaners are.

So I wonder if the behavior of these marvelous geese really suggests
anything at all about their origin.

Jerry Blinn <--- wishes he was at Bowerman
Placitas, NM
jerry at avisys.net


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