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September 07, 2006  Walk Like an Egyptian…Goose One of my favourite aphorisms is ‘It’s hard to wake someone who is pretending to sleep.’ This aphorism appeals to me because it describes so well the dynamics at work in many a human drama. It also well describes my most recent birding experience. At the time I house-sat quite contentedly watching junior Herons lurch over Bridge creek, and listening to the last hangers on of the summer bird world make their way through the yard. The warm August days brought spasmodic interjections from hidden Cassin’s Vireos, modified-for-fall call notes from dusty Yellow-rumped Warblers and the whistled scolding calls of Grey Jays cajoling all migrants to clear out of the country. And when no nearby entertaining wild creatures presented themselves - there was a pair of tame ducks to watch. During the course of my reveries a phone call came from a lady in Lac la Hache. She described to me a Goose or duck-like bird that was hanging around on the beach of her resort for the past few days and wondered who might be interested in such a sighting. I suggested that I was just such a person but, ensconced as I was on the idyllic pet farm, I had no idea when I might get out to see the bird in question. Frankly, her description of a duck-like bird with long red legs that showed a lot of white on the wings when it flapped didn’t ring any bells, or even stir my imagination. I had no idea what it might be and came up with a suggestion. Could someone take a picture of the bird and send it to me by email? The answer was yes, so I headed back out to the yard and fell into my lawn chair. Things in the mystery bird department were quiet for a few days and during that time the house-sit came to an end. When I was back home I got another phone call from the lady at Lac la Hache. She wanted to know why no one had come out to see the duck/goose-like bird. I wanted to know why no one had sent the email picture. Within hours I received an image of the mystery bird. As I peered at the somewhat blurry image on the computer monitor I knew immediately this was no run of the mill member of the North American waterfowl clan, but what was it? I lack any books on birds of the world, so I grabbed my Birds of the British Isles book from the shelf and flipped through the waterfowl section. And found the mystery duck/goose. The Lac la Hache bird was an Egyptian Goose. Before I went back to the computer screen I just had to know why the Egyptian Goose was found in England. Turns out some were imported to that part of the world from their native home in Africa and had, if not flourished, held their own. I phoned the lady in Lac la Hache and told her what I’d found out and then phoned another avid birder in the area to see if I might share a ride out to see the now-identified strange avian visitor. I also emailed one of the leading authorities on birds in the province and sent the image on to him. Further reading on the Egyptian Goose at the library that afternoon, in a book called Waterfowl of Canada and the Northern Hemisphere, told me that this bird was not really a Goose. Although it was called a Goose it was a member of the Anatidae branch of waterfowl and this made it more of a duck, somewhat related to Shellducks. The next morning we headed to Lac La Hache. Before we even parked the car, I saw the Egyptian Goose standing on the lawn next to the beach. Armed with a camera we circled around the wary bird and I took some pictures. It was a striking sight; standing tall on reddish legs, its body was mostly gray with dark wings and tail. It had a dark mask through its eyes. We admired it for some time before going to look for the resort owners to announce our arrival. By now I was very excited about the possibility of this being a wild Egyptian Goose that had somehow managed to make its way to our part of the world. What struck me most about this possibility was that the bird seemed to possess full sized wings and appeared to distrust people enough to be from wild stock. I was talking myself into a frenzy. Before we got in the truck we took another look at the Goose. It certainly was an interesting bird. As we pulled out of the driveway to head back to town, the husband of the lady who called me, pulled alongside us in a golf cart. He had just talked with the person who delivered the mail in the area and asked her if anyone on the lake kept Egyptian Geese. She replied in the affirmative. In one word my colourful imaginings of a wild Egyptian Goose came tumbling from the sky. It wasn’t a wild Goose chase after all but a domestic escapee on the lam. I haven’t yet received word that the owner of the Egyptian Geese on the lake was missing one of his birds but it’s a foregone conclusion as far as I’m concerned. Still, the event did shake me awake, which is hard to do when someone is pretending to be asleep. Resin D’Etre Today, as I reached into my pocket to see if I’d brought along my trusty jackknife, my fingers chanced upon a birdcall attached to my keys. The small birdcall is made of wood and metal, and random bird-like sounds are made by twisting the metal bit inside a wooden tube. The key to creating sounds is to keep the call dusted with resin. My call, however, fell silent a while back when I ran out of the resin that came with the call. As I stood and contemplated the value of carrying a non-functioning birdcall, my eyes fell on sap oozing from a nearby spruce tree. Isn’t resin just dried sap? I picked some of the dried bits from the spruce tree’s trunk and crumbled it into the barrel of the birdcall. One twist of the call confirmed the answer. Resin is dried sap! With that I was off down the trail, a cacophony of chirps ringing out as I went. To e-mail Tom CLICK HERE To look at previous column CLICK HERE |
