Canada Goose
The Canada goose weighs about five pounds as a gosling and up to 15 pounds as an adult. Their lifespan in the wild is between 10 and 24 yrs.
The Canada goose has a multifaceted role in its ecosystem, serving both as a beneficial contributor as well as a nuisance. They are seed dispensers, nutrient enrichers and prey for various predators, including humans. Their grazing habits can help maintain wetland habitats.
Geese can cause habitat degradation, pollute water quality, and create health hazards by carrying pathogens. Large flocks can displace other waterfowl from preferred nesting and feeding areas. Have you ever walked on a golf course in the Spring?
Flocks, like individual geese, adapt to their environment. Geese that used to spend all their summers in Northern lakes and rivers have adapted to living further south. The geese carry one of their greatest gifts: their haunting song, described in the writings of Sigurd F. Olson.
What do you love about this particular creature?
What do they reveal to you about God and our faith?
In 1971, I began a series of canoe trips down wild rivers in Quebec, the homeland of the Cree. In the remote villages in the James Bay Watershed, I learned about their culture and the way they lived in the wild. The Cree lived a subsistence life depending on fish, birds and mammals, such as beaver, moose and rabbit. The Canada Goose (Nisk) was and still is a staple in the Cree diet.
The Cree depended on the Nisk especially during the Spring when the birds are flying North to nest. The Cree people were very generous in sharing not only their lifestyle, but also their spiritual experiences. I had the blessing of experiencing their spiritual connections, including healing and dreaming.
While I was there, weather patterns made their Northern migration very difficult. While my Cree companions and I were waiting for their arrival, I had a dream that I could be helpful and hasten the arrival of the geese by giving my adopted father, Clarence, a haircut. The first reaction I got from Clarence was “White men can’t do that.” A week later, nothing had changed; the Cree people were sitting around the tipi, becoming more discouraged every day. Finally, Clarence, the old man, said, “Okay,” and signaled to me to come outside the tipi and give him a haircut, which I did.
Minutes later, the cold north wind changed to a warm wind from the south. The geese that had been waiting for the warm wind from the south (shawenhan) rode the wind north, and the Cree enjoyed the harvest of the geese and the feasts that followed.
Author - Stephen MacAusland
Stephen MacAusland is a passionate environmentalist, paddler, and videographer who is co-founder of Interfaith Power & Light.
Infinite Creator God, thank you for all the living things you have made. You delight in giving humanity gift upon gift from your imagination and love. Help us to learn wise ways to protect and celebrate your creatures, human, tamed, and wild; that we may share peacefully and completely in your kindness and agape love with all creation. May we be a blessing to all that you have created as we glorify you. Amen.
Prayer by the Rev. Diana Rogers