Only a Dream?

Please don't forget today!  http://www.metro.us/newyork/local/article/1146457--geese-activists-rally-outside-bloomberg-s-ues-townhouse-on-Wednesday

 

We really have to hope for a great turnout to defend the lives of New York City geese across from the Mayor's townhouse tonight.  Once again: Wednesday, 6-27, 6: PM.  17 East 79th Street. Please bring blow up photo of geese or creative sign if you can.

 

Already reports are coming in from around the country of goose roundups taking place.

 

102 geese rounded up in Birmingham on Friday.  Approximately, 40 geese and goslings rounded up in Delafield, Wisconsin yesterday by the USDA. 

 

All are dead now.

 

But, according to one Delafield witness, (Jim Pfeil) in their haste, USDA apparently left one gosling behind in Delafield. --  A gosling now without a family. 

 

Delafield has apparently repeated exactly what it did last year --  An infamy that will forever "live" on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85EYtIqZmww

 

There is still no official press release yet for the slaughters about to occur in New York City.

 

But, it is surely to come as night follows day.

 

It has been surprising over the past few evenings to meet people in Central Park actually aware of the goose roundups and killings. All have been upset by them.

 

First there was the middle-aged, professional-type woman a few nights ago who claimed goose roundups had previously occurred in Central Park.  (I still have a hard time believing this from what I have personally observed over the past few years and from what Central Park Conservancy has admitted in past conversations.) 

 

Unfortunately, the sheer knowledge that goose roundups have occurred for numerous years throughout New York City parks and other locations has rendered many people (including myself)  nervous and borderline paranoid that the same will happen in all city parks, including Central Park.  

 

However, one of the prime reasons for writing this blog (which now focuses on geese) is to help people understand better what is normal behavior, life and flight patterns in geese and what is not.

 

For example, one could be observing geese throughout the winter in a location and then notice one day all the geese are gone.

 

But, it is typical for geese to naturally move with the first and early signs of spring (usually in February).  

 

They may move again as weather gets warmer and many return to nesting locations -- usually in April.    And many geese who have not produced young may move again just prior to the summer molt (mid to late June) when they seek safety and plentiful food sources.

 

Upon completion of molting, raising young and growing in flight feathers, geese again typically move (usually in late July to early August) to what are sometimes called "gathering sites."   There, they meet up with other family or flock members just prior to fall migrations.

 

"Resident geese" usually don't migrate however, unless forced to due to lakes or ponds freezing over in winter.  In those cases, they will fly only as far as necessary to find open water available.

 

The bottom line to all of these flying patterns of geese is that there are times of the year, one might expect them to suddenly "disappear."

 

However, those times would NOT include the period from mid June to mid or late July, the times when the geese molt and are incapable of flight.

 

Those people noticing geese "suddenly disappearing" in this time frame ought be very suspicious that something nefarious has occurred.

 

Although USDA typically conducts goose roundups during the molting period (as noted above), that is not to say they never conduct roundups when geese can actually fly.

 

Last September, for example, 80 geese were rounded up and gassed from a New Jersey Park, despite the fact the geese could fly.

 

In that case, USDA used baited feed and rocket nets to capture the geese. (It must have been quite a scene.)

 

Nevertheless, this is a far more time-consuming and difficult operation than roundups when the geese are quite literally like "sitting ducks" due to the molt from June to mid or late July.  (Thus, these are the periods almost all USDA roundups occur.)  

 

It should be noted that those locations that do contract with USDA for goose roundups other times of the year are almost always obligated to give community notice.   One certainly needs to stay on top of community happenings and municipal hearings if worried or concerned about geese any time of the year -- and these days almost every nature lover should be both, concerned and alert.  

 

Any community with more than six geese cannot be considered "immune" from potential goose roundups.  The vitriol against these animals is truly off the charts these days.

 

Aside from the woman met a few nights ago who was afraid of becoming attached to geese for fear of what would happen to them, it has been refreshing over the past two nights to meet several young couples who were also aware of goose killings around the city and worried that the same could happen at CP.

 

I gave the people information from (27) GooseWatch NYC and urged them to be on the alert -- though at the same time, tried to assure that a roundup in Central Park, (though possible), is unlikely.

 

I try not to unduly upset people, but at the same time, alert them to possibility.

 

It is really hard to know what exactly is going to happen over the next few weeks or where.

 

It is virtually impossible to get anyone from USDA to "talk" these days, though that was always easy in the past.  And even my Councilperson apparently could not get information from Central Park Conservancy regarding whether a potential roundup might occur there or not.

 

Perhaps that explains why last night I had a nightmare (and I say this as one who never has nightmares -- or at least remembers them).

 

I dreamt I was in a smallish, kind of plain home with a large back yard, a small pond and some geese grazing on grass.

 

Suddenly a white van pulls up and a group of men get out.  I know it is USDA and start to scream for them to get out. But, no sound comes from my throat.

 

I then rush around the house seeking my camera and something to chase them away with.

 

But, by the time I find the camera and return to the yard, it is empty.   No van, no men and no geese.

 

I feel a monumental sense of dejection and failure - like the ground suddenly falling away from my feet.

 

Thankfully, I then woke up and realized it was only a dream.

 

But, was it really "just a dream?"

 

Like the woman met a few nights ago, I am in great fear for the geese I see every evening at the Boat Lake.   -- Buster, Bonnie and their now grown goslings as well as precious Mama, Papa and their now young adult offspring.

 

I want to say to myself it is just paranoia or a "bad dream," but I honestly don't know.

 

I just know I don't want to wake up or go to Central Park one of these coming days to discover the dream was real.  -- PCA

 

 

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