Canada geese are large and heavy birds. When they are landing on water, in an emergency, they cannot change direction at the last moment like a smaller bird can.
Blair, my Conservation Officer son, was patrolling a lake in an inflatable boat with a big powerful motor. This kind of boat is very maneuverable and he was traveling very fast. He was turning into a different direction when suddenly a large Canada goose crashed into the open bow of his boat! The goose had been intent upon landing on the water when Blair’s boat turned and suddenly ended up directly under where the goose was landing! The goose could not change direction in time and actually "landed" on Blair’s boat. It was stunned and rolled all the way back to where Blair was standing and steering his boat. He immediately picked it up by the neck and threw it back over the side of the boat where it shook itself, regained its sense of direction and took off again. A Canada goose can weigh up to 8 kilos! Would you like to have your goose dinner fall from the sky into your arms?
I am reminded of some other encounters I have had with wild animals and will write about them.
I wonder if any of you know what a porcupine looks like. It is a large animal, like a medium-sized dog, with a fa,t round body and short legs close to the ground. It waddles rather than walks and not very fast. It does not have to run away from its enemies since it has long quills growing from its coat to protect it from predators who may wish to kill and eat this fat and delicious-looking animal. When a predator comes too close, the porcupine will lash out at it with its tail or roll up into a ball-shape. Quills will stick to the face of any predator that tries to chew on the porcupine. The long quills have barbed ends so that when they enter the skin they will not exit easily. These barbs are like the hooks on fish-hooks. Quills will actually work themselves deeper and deeper into the body as animals try to rub them off and sometimes will enter deep enough to puncture an important organ, thus killing the unfortunate dog, wolf or fox. What the wolf must do to kill a "porky" is to attempt to turn the porcupine over onto its back so it can bite into the soft unprotected belly of the porcupine. Most of the time this is an impossible task to do without getting any quills stuck into its face. The wolf finally gives up and the porcupine, ultimately, goes on about its business.
I met a porcupine once in a park. It was eating a wooden toilet-building. The toilet was newly-constructed from wood boards that had been treated with a green wood-preservative so it would last a long time in the wet weather. The porcupine had been chewing for hours on this building before I happened to chance upon it. It had consumed more than a square metre of the wall and frame. I think this wood preservative is poisonous and this porky was going to have a big stomach-ache later that day. It waddled off into the forest without looking back at me.
to be continued …
