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Canadian Crossings
We crossed over the U.S. border into Canada today.
While bicycling near Vancouver later this afternoon, we noticed a pair of geese by the side of the road.
The traffic was fast and furious, and we wondered what the geese were doing.
A close-up:
Ben then saw the little round heads of a group of baby geese (adolescents, really) who seemed to be stuck behind a short cement barrier. They kept hopping up but weren’t making it over the top.
The mama goose climbed back over the wall and began honking gently at her children.
While the daddy goose stood guard, the mama goose then headed back toward the wall, with her children in tow:
Honking away, as if to say, “This is how it’s done!”, she hopped to the top of the wall and then jumped down.
One by one, the baby geese followed her, sometimes taking an easier line between the barriers!
Then, we watched horrified as the daddy goose began looking across the road, as if he were scoping out a route between the sporadic, speeding cars. Were they really going to cross the road? They would be killed for sure!
As the daddy goose boldly stepped onto the asphalt, with the mom and babies following behind, Ben and I sprang into action. Waving our arms, we stepped out into the road and stopped the cars from both directions. The drama was heightened by one inattentive zipster on the other side of the road, who applied the brakes reluctantly, and then only at the last minute. The geese got scared and returned briefly to their starting point.
But then they bravely set off again:
We all held our breath until the geese were safely on the other side and disappeared into the greenery.
With a line of cars stacked up behind us, I felt like the traffic cop in Robert McCloskey's classic children’s book “Make Way for Ducklings”!
For all we know, the family of geese has waddled across this busy road many times. But tonight I can sleep a little easier knowing that we did our part to ensure their safety in today's crossing.
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