Althouse: Do not befriend...

February 2, 2010

Do not befriend...

... a goose.

23 comments:

Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I think the goose was standing up for the fish.

Any other analysis would be re***ded.; 2/2/10, 11:08 PM
Anonymous said...: That is one bona fide crypto-neocon goose!; 2/2/10, 11:24 PM
MamaM said...: Good thing he only said, "if they keep acting dumb like this". Imagine if he called them retards!

Best to watch your mouth around animals who pick up on attitude.; 2/2/10, 11:30 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I feel vindicated in my distrust of the fowl at the park.; 2/2/10, 11:39 PM
George Grady said...: He's lucky that wasn't a swan. He'd be missing parts.; 2/2/10, 11:49 PM
Wince said...: Oh, Mama, can this really be the end?

One inside joke/rumor I heard is that Bob Dylan was almost felled by a goose.

Bob Dylan was hospitalized on May 25, 1997 seriously ill with histoplasmosis, a potential life threatening fungal infection that causes swelling of the sac surrounding the heart. Histoplasmosis is caused by the fungus histoplasma capsulatum. Dylan was treated with antibiotics, and his condition was not considered life threatening. Doctors said his condition was made more severe by a delay in diagnosis. He was released from a Los Angeles hospital over the weekend of May 31-June 1. Dylan was quoted as saying, "I'm just glad to be feeling better. I really thought I'd be seeing Elvis soon."

According to the Merck Manual, a standard medical reference book, histoplasmosis is fatal "only in rare cases with massive infection."

The story is that Dylan contracted histoplasmosis while golfing -- yes, Dylan golfing. He’d put his lit cigar on the turf, which was contaminated with goose droppings, while he’d hit and then return the cigar to his mouth.

Now, according to the CDC:

Increasing numbers of resident Canada geese in urban and suburban areas have caused concern about whether droppings and water contaminated by their droppings are possible sources of disease transmission to humans. As with exposures to the fresh droppings of other birds, exposures to goose droppings have not been shown to be a health risk for histoplasmosis. However, the human pathogens Cryptosporidium, Giardia, and Campylobacter have been found in Canada goose droppings.

Others have speculated:

Dylan - who lived in a New York City apartment at the time... although it was not confirmed that exposure to pigeon droppings was the cause of his illness, the city's "winged rats" seem a likely suspect.

Although,

histoplasmosis is uncommon in New York City and is not contagious; it cannot be transmitted from an infected person or animal to another (unlike SARS and avian flu). According to 1999 statistics from the New York City Department of Health, there were only 15 cases reported among New York City residents, a rate of 0.2 cases per 100,000 persons. Since the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum grows in soil and material contaminated with bat and bird droppings, if we don’t frequent bat caves, chicken coops or pigeon roosts, we are essentially safe.; 2/3/10, 12:16 AM
Peter Hoh said...: River fishing for smallies. Damn, that's looking really nice right now.; 2/3/10, 12:52 AM
rhhardin said...: Yesterday goose.; 2/3/10, 2:17 AM
Anonymous said...: That looks a lot like the pond in Concord I sometimes go kayaking on. Never tried to fish from a kayak, though.

Yes, geese are nasty, aggressive birds. I've had them come up to the kayak in similar fashion, but a couple of slaps of the oar and moving quickly along usually discourages them.

Just think of them as panhandlers by the subway station, and you'll be fine.; 2/3/10, 4:43 AM
Jason (the commenter) said...: If the geese were used to people they probably expected to be fed. If the guy kept showing them big fish and throwing them into the water(teasing them), they probably got angry.; 2/3/10, 5:17 AM
KCFleming said...: Do not befriend a goose.

Do not begoose a friend.

Life's rules can be pretty simple.; 2/3/10, 6:42 AM
Shanna said...: Geese are mean. If you walk by them at the lake they are very aggressive. This guy was dumb.; 2/3/10, 7:02 AM
KCFleming said...: Do not goose Goose.

At least, that would be my bet.; 2/3/10, 7:07 AM
sort of runic rhyme said...: Turn about. The goose was going for the pate; 2/3/10, 7:22 AM
rhhardin said...: Canada geese are fallback survival food.; 2/3/10, 7:23 AM
Ralph L said...: People get paid to fish? I've seen fishing shows on TV, but I didn't realize there was money in it.; 2/3/10, 7:32 AM
sort of runic rhyme said...: "Goose, DOWN!"; 2/3/10, 7:35 AM
sort of runic rhyme said...: Fun vid. What was good for the goose was good for a gander; 2/3/10, 7:48 AM
Tibore said...: Yeech! I will never go kayak fishing around waterfowl, ever, now that I've seen this!

I remember my own incident with a blue heron while fishing. I was walking the shoreline with my rods and tackle bag in July or August one year and stayed out till twilight. In the woods, it got real dark, and in spots the trees came within feet of the water at the reservoir I was at. Anyway, I was walking along the shoreline when the BIGGEST black shadow exploded out of the brush into the air right in front of me. In retrospect, it was probably 6 or 7 feet away when it happened, but the damn thing flew right at me and made it feel like 6 or 7 inches. Anyway, this thing was honking up a storm, and flew so close that I ended up stumbling backwards right into the shoreline mud. Heard the damn thing honking away, then it landed about 100 yards out in the water, and that's when I saw that it was the local blue heron that area birdwatchers love to take pictures of. I had apparently stumbled across it's hideaway site.

In actuality, the thing was roughly the size of the goose in this video - maybe a bit larger in the body - just with longer legs. In my mental memory, the thing was as large as a 737 on takeoff, and every bit as fast and loud!

I've since learned to carry a light on trips where I may stay out beyond sunset. That bird is still around, too. It's a gorgeous bird in the daylight.; 2/3/10, 7:57 AM
Fred4Pres said...: Attack? Was that love? I think the goose got confused.; 2/3/10, 8:32 AM
bagoh20 said...: That goose "acted stupidly".; 2/3/10, 8:52 AM
MamaM said...: This is not about befriending geese. The fisherman seems like a good humored, neutral kind of guy. But his words and attitude reveal an underlying show of power our human culture mistakes for benign masculinity.

Listen to his words and watch the way the male goose repeatedly responds to the large floating object expressing sounds of disdain and disrespect in his territory.

It's a fun video, but the goose is not quite as capricious as he first appears.

The attack follows the fisherman's expression of disgust for the way "These things...are acting dumb."

Once in the water, he goes on to call them "dang geese, Gah, Stupid Geese," and when he directly addresses the goose with "Hey, What did I do to you?" the male goose does not consider it to be a quack of polite interest.

The episode ends with him laughingly referring to the goose's behavior as insane. Innate would be more accurate. This was a goose who understood nuance.; 2/3/10, 11:27 AM
Allen Garvin said...: More geese than swans now live, more fools than wise.; 2/3/10, 10:50 PM