Monday, October 3, 2011

Parakeet vs. Canada Goose


I have a lot of respect for birds (except for the ones that nest in our attic vents and break the venting mesh). And I have a special place in my heart for the monk parakeets of Connecticut. Though their beginnings are a bit sketchy—some say they’re from a PT Barnum show, and others say they’re from an overturned exotic pet truck. In either case, these green and white parakeets got free in CT. Everyone assumed that a New England winter would kill them off. It didn’t. The parakeets build their nests around the transformers on high power lines—lots of warmth. The problem is their nests can cause fires and power outages. So the power companies are fighting the birds. (I’m rooting for the birds.)

But I don’t respect Canada geese. They plop their big feathered rears right in the middle of the road. I’ve been known to honk and yell. They just stare me down with their black-ringed eyes. Daring me to hit them. Which I haven’t, though the thought has occurred to me.

The other day I was driving home from WalMart when a flock of them were coming in for a landing at a fake pond. Now this pond is very small and the flock was big. And they were coming in too fast, their angle was all wrong, and they were wingtip to wingtip. And I waited for the fiasco. At the last second, the big flock all baffled their wings at the exact same second and settled their derrieres perfectly on the pond, whose surface was now solid Canada goose. And, of course, they gave me their standard I’m-so-superior-to-you Canada goose stares. I smiled. Touché.

I just hope they continue their journey south—maybe they could go to Brazil or Peru. I’m sure there’s a WalMart pond there somewhere. Though maybe the parakeets will fight them for space. I’d love to see that.

8 comments:

  1. And you haven't mentioned the worse part of Canada Geese....what comes out of their hind ends...They make quite a mess!

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  2. Rachael is absolutely right. Those geese were welcomed by the folks who live on the lake here ... at first. Now they want them all shot. Nasty nasty slickery stink all over the place.

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  3. Or those blood-sucking parrots from New Zealand...sheesh, not the kind of winged critter that I'd want to cross in a dark alley...

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  4. Hmmm. . . a .22 and a goose diner would solve a lot of problems.

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  5. So much attitude in those geese! We don't see that many around here so no attitude problem. Yet. ;)

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  6. No Canadian geese here really, but we do get a lot of these green parakeets in the summer. They are so noisy and they eat all the fruit!

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  7. It's an amazing sight to see thousands of geese migrating overhead, but you hope they just carry on. Yes, geese are scary in big groups.

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  8. Yes geese are a nuisance, but I'm looking for a bumper sticker that says, "I speed up for pigeons."

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