Be Patient-It’s a Life

22 Replies

Spring is here! A time for new life for our animal friends.

https://i0.wp.com/wonderopolis.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/goose-family-time_shutterstock_14636287.jpgWonderopolis

Tonight on the way home from work I was sitting at a stop sign that is right by a park. I noticed there were four geese and a bunch of babies trotting along in the grass. It is so enjoyable to watch the babies stay so close to their parents and follow their every move. But they were all heading toward the road and I thought “oh, oh, they are going to try to cross.”

This is a very busy intersection, where I can sit for many minutes myself trying to get across. So, of course, I became very concerned about their safety. My mind went to videos I have seen of police officers blocking traffic to help geese families get across a road. I thought maybe I should do that. Undecided on what I was going to do, I turned onto this busy road (normally I would just cross it) and pulled over. They started crossing the road as soon as there was a break in the cars. The car coming the opposite direction stopped and was allowing them to cross. On my side two cars passed me and I thought “I should have just stopped on the road instead of pulling over to the side.” So, I did. I pulled out so no one else could pass by until all of the geese were safely across the road.

Something I noticed was how the people in the cars in front of me and the car on the opposite side of the road seemed very impatient. They started rolling towards the geese well before they were out of the way and turning to go around them. I notice this happens a lot when I encounter any kind of wildlife trying to cross a road. Maybe it is just me, but I wait until they are completely across before I start moving my car at all. Would if they were to all of a sudden turn around or stop? Would if one of those babies turned a different direction? Would you even be able to see the tiny creature over your hood?

People are so impatient. In fact there was a time when I was turning right onto a street and there were a bunch of geese crossing the road I was turning on to. I, of course, stopped and was waiting for them. The person behind me was laying on the horn! Was I suppose to run them over? It ain’t gonna happen! I can only give them the benefit of the doubt that maybe they didn’t realize why I wasn’t moving. Although, I don’t know how they could not have known since there were quite a few geese crossing.

Anyway, after the geese I saw tonight made it across, they all walked right along side the road. They seemed to know not to go on the actual road, but I was still not feeling comfortable about this so I drove slowly, kind of following alongside them, until a car came up behind me. So I drove down a ways until I could find a spot to make a u turn. When I came back on the opposite side I could no longer see them. I did see a pond off in the distance and figured this is probably where they were headed. I was now comfortable with leaving them and driving the rest of the way home.

Since I am on the topic of birds, I thought it appropriate to share a photo of a couple ducks my mom recently had passing through her yard. A duck…something so common, yet there is something so enjoyable about seeing them walking around your yard.

She thought I might want to use the photo in a post-she was right! 🙂 How do moms always know?

ducks-edited

If you come across wildlife trying to cross the road, please stop, be patient, and allow them to get all the way across. Our time is not so precious that we can’t allow another living creature to cross a road safely.

22 thoughts on “Be Patient-It’s a Life”

  7. Dakota/Caren/Cody

    this is great advice! We have A LOT of geese and their babies at the apt/condo complex where I live. They frequently are blocking the road. I have no problem waiting for them to cross, but you are right, others can be BEYOND rude and impatient. They have no respect for animals.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓
  10. Kathy

    Great post, LeeAnn, thank you! Agree completely! I’ve done similar things. Recently, I saw a goose sitting way too close to the side of the road. So I pulled over and started walking toward him/her. The goose got up when I was about two feet away and started hobbling away. Down in the road ditch there was another goose flapping his/her wings but remained in a “nested” position. So I thought that perhaps these were a nested pair, and since the one could still walk albeit with in a limpy way, I figured the bird would be alright. But each day I would drive by and check on them, and after two days, not seeing one of them, but still seeing the one whom had flapped his/her wings in the road ditch still there in the very same spot, I became worried. I went down toward the bird, and found that h/she could not get up or fly off. I devised a rescue plan, and a friend of mine and I went back the next morning in the rain (geez…. 🙂 ), threw a towel over him/her, picked the bird up and into a large tub I had with a cover and air hole that I lined nicely with something soft. We took the goose to the Wildlife Refuge Center in St Paul.

    Unfortunately, this story does not have a happy ending; the bird was paralyzed and had to be humanely euthanized. But I will never forget this sweet bird, peering out the hole in the cover of the container, looking up at Julie and I. I’m sure “Frieda/Frodo” was scared, but I knew this was better than leaving the poor dear in the road ditch to die slowly from starvation.

    I look for wildlife all the time, and feel like I am a kind of “look-out”!!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓
  11. Sherry

    I love the ducks! I live near a river and park so ducks and geese are a common sight. For many years after we moved to our home we would have a Duck Mr. and Mrs. stay at our yard or our next door neighbor’s yard. We called them Mama and Papa and enjoyed their babies cute wobblings. A family of bunnies in the daylilies and in the peonies were the ducks. But then a family from hell moved in and scared the ducks away. That was 10 years ago and I still look for them, or another family, to grace our yard once again…

    Have a blessed night, O good friend of the Geese! 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

meow, woof, moo, neigh, however you want to say it, please say it