Animals understand fairness

Lately, I've been feeding the squirrels and small birds in front of my house rather than at the rear, where I'd been feeding them for years. I switched because a flock of geese congregates behind my house. Over the years, I've learned that if I feed them, more and more geese arrive until there are hundreds in my yard. I like geese, but not that much.

So for the past few weeks, I've been putting seed and peanuts in a planter out front. It's about 2 1/2 feet off the ground, as in "away from the geese on the ground". I figured the geese on the other side of the house would never know. Right. They saw birds flying away from the planter with seed and nuts in their mouths -- and this really upset them. Other animals were eating food that they saw as rightfully theirs. It was unfair.

As a result, Milo began to accost me when I left the house. (He's the leader of the flock and we've been friends for years.) He would step into my path to block my way and give me hell. It was just talk, mind you. After all, he's my friend. But I could see how upset he was.

I finally understood why he was doing this. It wasn't because I stopped feeding the flock, it was because I stopped feeding them while continuing to feed the other animals -- and that's unfair. Milo gets this, and it made him mad at me. I finally grokked his message. He's right. It's unfair and I can't treat him like that. So I've gone back to tossing the seeds and nuts out back. Whoever gets them, gets them.

This calmed Milo down right away. Why? Because I'm being fair to all. Animals understand this as well as we do. (And surely this is one of the traits that played into the development of a sense of morality in humans.) Fairness: it's not just for people.

Elephant communication

Interesting story about elephants and the way they make group decisions. Apparently they chat about it for a while.

Reminds me of the way a flock of geese chooses the right moment to fly. On the ground, they call to one another excitedly, a voice here, a voice there. The excitement builds until finally they're all honking together as they leap into the sky.

I have promoted Milo and his flock

Milo, the proudest and finest goose in the world, who heads the flock at my local pond, was in for a surprise this morning. He didn't see it coming.

I says to him, "Milo, first of all, I am promoting your flock. Henceforth it shall be a Legion." And then I really shocked him. "And, Milo," I says, "you are now a we." In case he didn't get the big picture, I explained this further. I says, "Milo, what this means is from now on, you can say, 'We are Legion' -- even when you're alone! Say it proudly, Milo, and say it often."

I know the Vatican is reading this post. They always do. I hear there's a full staff that attend to my blog and try to come up with counter-prayers, to keep me at bay. Hmph. As if they could.

Listen to me, Vatican guys. If you don't knuckle under to my gay atheist demands...all of them, I will send Milo's Legion to your accursed city and direct them to poop on your graven images -- but only after they poop on your heads. Take that, Vatican.

So, yeah. Milo got promoted. Cool, huh? Hark, I hear the Legion now. They're passing over the house. I think I'm beginning to understand their language. I can't be sure, but I think I heard one say, "I can't wait to poop on the popey guy!"

PS: I'm still sick. I think a spider's bite is at the root of my problems. So this pathetic post is probably all you'll find here today. Where is wellness, I ask you, where is wellness?!

Two tales from the yard

I put out bird seed the other day, which I hadn't done for a while. Soon, a group of adult geese came over to eat the seed. It was a pleasant sight and I watched them for a bit and then returned to work. Moments later, there was a huge ruckus in the yard so I went to see what was up. Milo, the leader of the flock, had returned and was apparently enraged at the sight of the adults eating the seed. He fought them all back and then allowed the chicks to come forward. They ate while the others watched quietly. You gotta have your priorities straight, and Milo is clear about his. He was teaching them a lesson. (NB: This should also serve as a lesson for humans who would take funds from education and after-school programs while making sure their own paychecks are lushly padded. Just saying.)

The other incident I relate secondhand. It was reported to me by my sister. She said she saw all the chicks together on the lawn one morning and -- as the adults around them calmly watched -- a coyote slowly walked over to the chicks, took one by the neck and walked away with it. No one even squawked. Nature's compromise, understood and acknowledged? It does seem odd, at least to us. But the geese seemed to understand and accept the situation.

Spring is here, with all its bells and whistles and babies. I'll bet you've seen some interesting things in your own area. Do tell.

The cat thing

I must say I throw up a bit when I see otherwise interesting people post "cute" photos of cats that they then enthuse about ad nauseam. Something is definitely wrong with you if you feel this much love for cats. And anyone who posts "Kitteh" remarks has fallen right off the mental-health cliff.

Now, when a person posts about geese, that's a totally different story. Geese make for a fine, healthy, rewarding obsession. Face it: geese are what life is all about. And their cuteness easily trounces the alleged cuteness of cats.

It was a pleasure to sort this issue out for you. If there's any other topic needing clarification, let me know.

Late Winter confusing the geese

It's still Spring in New York state. The problem with this is that it's January 26th. This shouldn't be, and it's confusing the geese.

The poor guys are waiting for their cue to migrate but it never comes. I've noticed over the years that the first snowfall doesn't drive them away. They needs lots of convincing. But this year they're not getting it.

We had one weird, early snow in October and one light snow recently. Mind you, it got very cold with the second snowfall. The whole pond froze -- and there were children ice-skating on the surface, much to my horror. It had just been 45 degrees the day before. You do not go ice skating unless the temperature has been below freezing for three or more days. Then it's solid. Luckily, they were light, skinny kids so none of them went under.

Anyway, back to the geese. They're acting oddly. Lots of fights within the flock and between flocks (there are two here at the moment). Milo's doing his best to keep order but I think he's feeling stress over the climate situation. It's just not normal. And when he finally takes the flock south (if and when Winter arrives), the season that greets him there will be a bit off too, because of the odd timing.

Climate change is going to affect all of us in the end. This is just a precursor event, rippling through the geese world.

So many geese, so little time

This shot [refers to image in this post on my main blog] shows quite a few geese. If you look deeply into the photo (sorry about the quality) you may spot an additional 30 or so in the water. (You can click on the photo to make it larger.) There were even more geese outside the frame when I took this shot -- about 25 on the left and another 30 or so on the right. We gotta lotta geese.

Longish geese post after the jump . . .

Another lesson from the geese

I've written here before about how geese handle their aggression in sensible ways. They provide lessons for humans who, as a species, do not handle aggression well at all. I saw one of these lessons unfold the other day.

There was Milo, the male leader of the flock, chasing a goose and biting its tail feathers (and the rear end itself). I've seen them do this countless times but this time seemed different, more intense. By the time I caught wind of it, Milo was already on the tail end (no pun intended) of his rampage. What I saw was a goose's rear end, sticking out of the bushes on the edge of the property. Milo was biting that rear end and honking at him/her fiercely.

All the while, the goose lay perfectly still. I thought maybe Milo had killed it and I was horrified, but then I noticed that the geese weren't bothered at all. It was a very different response than the one I saw when one of their babies was killed. The flock was totally cool with this event so I returned to what I was doing, which was sitting on the steps and hanging out with them. I like these guys.

Later on, I checked the goose in the bushes. Its body and tail end had not moved, but now its neck was giving its head a tour of the nearby leaves, eating this and that green delicacy. The goose remained like this for a very long time.

It was obvious that it was playing dead to resolve a difference between it and Milo. What a sensible routine! Milo got his aggressive rocks off by chasing and biting tail feathers. And the "victim" paid homage to Milo by making believe s/he was dead for a time. Then, all debts paid and emotional balance restored, the goose came out of the bushes and normal flock activities resumed.

Why can't humans deal with their aggressions in similarly sensible ways? These geese -- and other animals -- are teaching us important lessons but we're not paying attention. I urge everyone to read Konrad Lorentz's wise book, "On Aggression". It should be required reading in our insanely violent world. There are countless ways to deal with aggression -- and war doesn't have to be on the menu.

Geese marching in V formation

We often see geese flying in a V formation. But the other day, I saw the geese in our yard using this move on the ground. It happened so quickly that I couldn't get a shot of them doing it, but I'm going to keep my eye out and my camera handy for the next appearance of this behavior.

When I went looking for a photo (or even a mention) of geese using this formation on the ground, I found nothing. I was surprised. You'd think there would be photos or a discussion of this somewhere. Perhaps I used the wrong search terms.

In any case, what they do is the following. When a predator lands on the ground in territory that the geese consider theirs, they step into V formation. It's just like the V they form when flying, but it takes place on solid ground. What they do is approach the threat as one unit, a huge, V-shaped monster. It seems to the predator that he's being "surrounded" as the lead goose's aggressiveness is amplified by the two arms of the phalanx.

The geese on our property, perhaps 20 or 30 of them, did this to a turkey vulture the other day. They marched in a well-formed V, with heads held low and necks extended far forward in threatening fashion. And they made lots of noise as they approached, so they presented not only a visual but an auditory wall of hyped-up geese.

Worked like a charm. The turkey vulture flew off and didn't return. I will definitely try to get a photo the next time this happens. Birds are so cool. By the way, this is exactly what Konrad Lorenz pointed to in his book, "On Aggression". In the animal world, aggressive displays are a way to funnel aggression into activities that allow the creatures to express the feeling of aggression while protecting their territory and causing no harm to themselves -- or even to the predator for whom the display is intended. 

This is a talent humans must develop. We don't need to obliterate countries and people. Instead, we could learn to channel our aggression into non-destructive displays such as sports. Have a beef with another country? Play a soccer match to decide who wins. Preen and strut and threaten all you want -- year-round if it makes you happy -- but in the end, only play an aggressive game. The geese have this all worked out. So do fish and a zillion other animals. So how come we can't manage this simple trick?