Of Geese and Ravens

[marina_bonomi]

A family nearby has a couple of geese as pets, I find them utterly fascinating, and often hubby and I stop to watch them and, yes, chat with them (the geese, not the owners) during our daily walk.

We are seriously considering getting a couple of geese as 'watch-dogs' in the not-so-far future and, true to myself, I've started reading all I can lay my hands on regarding geese, domestic or otherwise.

One such book is The Geese of Beaver Bog by Bernd Heinrich.  There , in a discussion about wild animals asking humans for help, I found this snippet:

'(...) a raven with its feet badly tangled up with musk ox fur approached two kayakers (names quoted) in the wilds of Greenland after they pulled to make camp. They spoke softly to it. The raven picked up a small rock, looked at them, and put it back down. They also picked up the same rock, put it down, then scooped up the raven, untangled the musk ox fur from its feet, and threw the raven into the air. It circled, landed on a rock, squawked, and then flew off to a cliff from where it had come' (pag. 44)

My first thought after digesting this was :'What a perfect First Contact Protocol!', I can't shake the idea that we are looking for 'other' intelligence in space and it's right here, pulling our jacket to be recognized.

P.S. my new goose icon is courtesy of djinni, lovely, isn't it?

Comments

[nekosensei.livejournal.com]

I agree. I hear that crows, in particular, are very intelligent animals. I think they're the only bird that use tools.

Edit: I saw a video on crows not too long ago. And...after I saw it...I had more respect for them. And also, it's a shame I don't see any crows around where I live anymore. I heard most of the population in the area died off several years ago because of some virus or other. Very sad.

[marina-bonomi.livejournal.com]

Sad indeed! Yes, the Corvidae species are fascinating, although the more I delve into bird-lore the more birds I find exibiting intriguing behaviour, parrots for instance are a world in themselves. I'm sure living with geese will make life very interesting too ( I hope not in the way of the old Chinese curse) ;-).

[zeeth_kyrah]

I follow the journal of barbarakelley, who keeps geese; many of her posts are about the mundane details of her life in Alaska, but by adding humor and always attempting a creative outlook she brings more life to her life. Also, she keeps geese. ;)

[marina-bonomi.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the suggestion, I'll definitely wander there to have a look. :-)