The first two winters that I worked at the University of Maryland, it did not have any geese. This year has been entirely different. A flock of Canada geese took up residence on campus in late fall, and they have been there all through the winter.
Although some of my coworkers are not impressed by the little greenish brown gifts they leave all over the sidewalks, on the whole, the geese have been quite well behaved. Compared to the geese at Lake Artemesia, who will mob you and terrorize each other if you throw them a bit of cereal (I know, I've tried), these geese are positively angels.
They gather in front of the engineering and math buildings, foraging for food in the grass, occasionally ambling up the sidewalk as if it were their own designated thoroughfare. They honk amiably at each other (no hissing like the Lake Artemesia geese!) and regard you without hostility when you pass.
The other day, whilst driving past the gaggle of geese with a coworker, I exclaimed, "I want to hug all the geese!"
He thought that was inordinately funny. I just thought that the geese are the perfect size for hugging, and with their apparently laid-back natures, it just might be feasible!
I have not yet attempted to hug the geese, and I probably won't ever try, but at least I got some pictures of them before they make their journey back north for the summer!
0 comments: