Lothario (?) Speaks, More details on him and his family.
Report from Bob.
1. Visit to the Charles River White Geese.
2. Greetings from the Toulouse – Emden family.
3. Evaluation of “Lothario.”
4. The Toulouse – Emden family at home.
5. Loneliness.
6. Years of trying to have babies.
A. 2001.
B. 2002 - 2004.
C. 2005.
7. The cycle of loneliness.
8. The babies come.
1. Visit to the Charles River White Geese.
Yesterday, February 20, 2006, I was able to visit the Goose Meadow/Destroyed Nesting Area, the only part of the habitat of the Charles River White Geese from which they have not been barred since September 2004, and it was destroyed by Boston University for normal use in October 1999.
The gaggle of the Charles River White Geese greeted me with their usual happy hello.
2. Greetings from the Toulouse – Emden family.
To my right, in the middle of native vegetation which has grown up since the 1999 destruction, were four happily crying geese. I looked closely at the four. Clearly three of the four were Paula the Toulouse goose and her two 2005 babies. The babies are now significantly larger than their mother. With them was a handsome white Emden gander, clearly Paula’s mate, and clearly, by far, the largest of the foursome.
3. Evaluation of “Lothario.”
If Paula’s mate were Lothario, this would have to be he. My previous report on Lothario commented that he was a little guy.
I have been chastised for that language by, I believe, Marilyn. She informed me that Lothario was a large Emden, not a “little guy.”
Depends on your point of reference. If you are comparing to the gaggle and its members, this gander is definitely not a little guy.
If you are comparing his size to that of humans, even a big goose is a little guy.
This goose clearly could be my buddy and the buddy of Daejanna.
He certainly was including his voice in the chorus of welcome.
4. The Toulouse – Emden family at home.
I kept an eye on the group and, now that I knew what I was looking for, the four clearly kept together during the entire period I was at the nesting area.
You just have to realize that part of the foursome is a large white gander. You look for Paula who definitely stands out, and her pink beak distinguishes her from her sister who has an orange beak. Then you look around Paula and see two large white geese with black markings, the no-longer-small babies.
Then, as they move around, you look for a full size white Emden who stays with the other three. That is perhaps Lothario.
Just before I left, the family went for a refreshing swim.
As the family went into the water, the gander kept a constant line of patter to his family, just like Lothario always did to me.
Around me I could hear other ganders talking to their families in pretty much the same patter. All were going into the lovely running water.
5. Loneliness.
We have a situation of possible loneliness.
Paula and Paulina, the sister Toulouse geese, arrived at the Destroyed Nesting Area in fall 2000.
They were very clearly a pair. They stayed together pretty much at all times. It is quite likely that they were littermates and that they had never been separated from the time they hatched. They certainly kept up their closeness until nesting season.
Then Paula started nesting. She clearly had mated, apparently with Lothario.
6. Years of trying to have babies.
A. 2001.
Spring of 2001 was the year nesting geese were brutally killed, many probably by a person who has since been convicted of rape and murder at the destroyed nesting area the following fall.
Other nesting geese “disappeared” in association with destruction of nests.
I thought the nests were destroyed by some nut. My mind changed when a nest was destroyed with the complete removal of a large board under which the nest had been hidden.
That board not only was too big for one person, it was totally removed from site anywhere. The mother goose also “disappeared.”
That action was professional: the Metropolitan District Commission (now called the Department of Conservation and Recreation) or its equivalents.
B. 2002 - 2004.
These same sick people, during the last three years, have poisoned every goose egg they can get away with in the first 10 miles of the Charles River. These same sick people along with the reprehensible City of Cambridge have been heartlessly starving the Charles River White Geese since September 2004.
Until the board disappeared, I swallowed the “they would never stoop so low” mantra, particularly since the MDC/DCR were not such proven liars at that time either.
We assume the best from our bureaucrats. We cannot conceive that people we employ are as vile as this state agency and this city.
Paula’s nest was destroyed in 2001 and probably in 2002. The following two years, 2003 and 2004, her eggs were poisoned.
C. 2005.
In 2005 our reprehensible bureaucrats failed to get their approvals until late. Senator Kennedy’s office stepped in to assist in the poisoning process.
Perhaps because of the delay in approvals, perhaps because of the ongoing starvation campaign, the eggs were not poisoned in 2005.
Paula had her babies.
7. The cycle of loneliness.
From 2001 to 2004, Paula, Paulina and Lothario went through a cycle of the years.
Outside nesting season, Paula and Paulina continued to be inseparable. They continued to be the buddies shown in a number of excellent photos posted on the web.
During nesting season, Paula did her duty and Lothario was probably protecting her and her nest like a good mate.
While Paula did her nesting, Paulina did what she could.
Paulina nested on other geese’ eggs. Paulina acted as a surrogate mother letting other real mothers take a break. Poor Paulina did not have a mate, so she did the best she could, and she defended those eggs with the same loving protectiveness as their mothers would.
Outside nesting season, Lothario saw his mate go back to her lifelong friend and Lothario was lonely.
Just as Lothario happily chattered to his family yesterday, he visited visitors to the nesting area and chattered to them. I noticed his attention and appreciated it. Daejanna noticed the same appreciation, although she understood him better than I did.
The difference between Lothario and Paulina, however, was that Paulina had no family in the gaggle except for Paula.
9. The babies come.
Now the mated geese have had their first brood and Lothario stays with his brood.
The loser, unfortunately is Paulina. Paulina has lost her life long companion, Paula, probably for good.
For geese, this is a very serious matter because family is everything. But the two Toulouse geese had no family in the gaggle except for each other, and Paulina has lost Paula.
Paulina has acted as if she were poorly in recent months. I think lonliness is getting to her.
