They Only Abandon Their Eggs When Dying -- In Memory of Camille

Camille with newly layed eggs last week.

The eggs that will now never hatch.

Camille (top) and Brad shortly after she abandoned eggs.

Last photo of Camille while alive. The next day, she was dead.

It is a chilly, raw, blustery and rainy day in NYC.

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Perfect setting for what there is to report.

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Camille died yesterday.

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Camille is the goose who had returned to Reservoir with her gander to nest (One of two nesting pairs.)   She laid six eggs which were discovered last week -- and ultimately doomed.

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Two days ago, Camillle abandoned the nest.

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I was concerned about this because nesting Canada geese rarely, if ever abandon their eggs.  I was also concerned because Camille appeared listless and weak in water, bobbing up and down and drifting with currents.

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I tried to console myself with the knowledge that such behavior (resting, drifting with tides) is commonly observed in migratory geese -- though in their case, it is due to exhaustion from flying thousands of miles and need for rest.

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I consulted with a rehabber and someone knowledgeable on geese who advised to watch Camille over next couple of days. Since the goose did not have obvious injury or show visible cause for emergency rescue, it was hoped she would bounce back. Perhaps Camille was just depressed from having to abandon eggs for whatever unknown reason.

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But, I had a very "bad feeling" about this -- as I did with Brad at Harlem Meer shortly before he died, almost two years ago.

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And yet, with Camille in an inaccessible place at the Reservoir, there was no way for a lay person to get to her for rescue.

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From past experience, I also know Park Rangers don't have boats to rescue sick/injured birds on water.  --  It seems only those whose job it is to harass or destroy geese and their eggs have boats.

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And so it was a personal quandary.

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When leaving for the Jackie Onassis Reservoir yesterday on an overcast and dank day, I anticipated seeing Camille again and hopeful she would be a bit better.  Perhaps a rest in the water might have done her body good and restored some of the energy lost in nesting?

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But, truth was, I was prepared for anything......

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I first saw Camille's gander, Brad, (so named after the Harlem Meer duck, several times a "widower" in years past) still patrolling the area around the nest and appearing somewhat lost and confused.

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But, I could not see Camille anywhere. 

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I then followed direction of currents, walking to the far north west portion of Reservoir,

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And there she was, lying belly up in the water, her head invisible and below the surface.

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Camille was dead.

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All I could think of then is the endless persecution, egg destruction and massacre these noble, valiant  birds have been subjected to in NYC over the past ten years and the irrational hatred directed towards them.

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Camille had survived most of that.

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She and her gander even survived this past brutal winter.

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After likely having their eggs addled and destroyed over past few years in Central Park, Camille and Brad bravely returned to try still once again. 

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Only in the process this time, she died.

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My heart is breaking.

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Breaking for all the torment, harassment, vilification, slaughter and sheer ignorance directed towards and heaped upon these birds non-stop. Breaking for all the cold, callous indifference -- like the day itself today. 

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Breaking that in her final, hopeful and courageous effort, Camille could only know loss once again.  Loss of not just her eggs, this time, but her own precious and jealously guarded life.

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Her gander now wanders the confines of the Reservoir, calling out and looking lost and alone -- the sight of a lone gander patrolling stormy waters this time, not reflection of potential new life, but rather loss of it.

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The rain falls, trying to cleanse. And the winds whisk, trying to push away the evidence.

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But, still the tattered remains lay, silently, but inexorably, brushing against the jagged rocks.

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Testimony to our hate, destruction, indifference and intolerance towards much of natural wildlife.  

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I pray that somewhere, Camille is able to fly again.  To a place of the welcome, warmth, peace and love that she was so denied in this life.

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And I pray that Camille is somehow united with all the babies she so tried to bring into this intolerant world -- even in her fading moments -- but who, in the end, were never to be born.

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I learned something valuable this week.  Something now burned into unpleasant memory forever.

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I learned Canada geese only abandon their eggs and nest when dying. -- PCA



                                             


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