Canada Quartet
This quartet of adult Canada Geese swam southward in a stately procession. It’s fairly unusual to see such a small group. In the cove to the south of University Avenue, it’s not uncommon to see dozens, and you can sometimes see them honking overhead in loose formations. On Staten Island Road up in the Delta, we saw many hundreds in the flooded fields, pecking through the stubble of harvested grains for dropped seeds. They’re also very familiar — maybe too familiar — to visitors around Lake Merritt in Oakland, where they’ve taken over the job of maintaining the grasslands, cropping them close and fertilizing them ever so abundantly. In Chavez Park they mostly stay in the water. When they settle on land, they’re fearless and if provoked, can attack other animals of any size, including humans. Roast goose used to be a favorite Christmas dish.
