Terre Logsdon – Record-Bee staff
LAKEPORT In the 18 years since Lakeport resident Rae Powell has been feeding several varieties of geese the snowy white Embden, the brown and white Toulouse with a short orange bill, the Brown Chinese Goose with a brown bill and the Canadian Goose who call Clear Lake their home for some or all of the year, she has never seen a deadlier one for her feathered friends due to auto collisions than this one.
Powell s landlord began feeding geese over 20 years ago on this stretch of Lakeshore Boulevard in North Lakeport, but turned the task over to animal-lover Powell 18 years ago, who s been attending to them ever since.
The geese always cross the road in the spring to an open yard to nest, Powell said, and most people slow down and stop to let them cross. But some do not.
Powell s neighbor witnessed one car that not only did not slow down, but drove into a yard to hit and kill three geese Sunny, Dave and Igor which saddens Powell and angered many neighbors.
That was pretty blatant, Powell said. Earlier this year there were 29 geese. Six have been hit, so there s only 23 left. They re like kids to me.
And they seem to regard Powell as a family member, too, as many have been around her daily for their entire lives.
She has names for each of the geese, some of whom she s known since they hatched 15 years ago. A big guy named Ruckus, whose mate was sitting on their nest, displayed the appropriateness of his name by honking and hissing loudly when Powell approached him with some lettuce (Romaine is their favorite), but which he ate quickly anyway.
Screecher who has a honk that sounds more like you guessed it a screech, sounds that way, Powell says, because he was grasped in the throat by an older goose and shaken violently when he was still a gosling and Powell was there to see it happen.
Muy Macho however, gently takes bread from Powell s mouth, as if giving her a gentle kiss.
Powell and her neighbors are concerned because an increasing amount of property on the lakeshore, where the geese used to nest, now is covered by homes like the new condominiums under construction directly across the street from Powell which causes more of the geese to find nesting sites on the other side of Lakeshore Boulevard, putting them in greater danger from speeding cars.
We ve had the county install signs to signify this area as a Goose Crossing, Powell said, but people steal the signs and they cost hundreds of dollars.
Each goose has a different personality, Powell said, and they have families.
Prior to the cholera epidemic in 2004 that killed thousands of water fowl on Clear Lake, there were 58 geese she fed daily.
When Scoli s mate died of cholera, she said, he kind of mourned, I think. He would stand on the wall where they had nested, and honk for 20 minutes at a time, swim away, then come back and do it again for a long time.
Scoli, who had been in that area on Lakeshore Boulevard for 18 years, was hit and killed by a speeding car on April 7.
Many people love Lake County because of the natural beauty and the wildlife, Powell said, but if they don t slow down, well, there will be less wildlife left.
Contact Terre Logsdon at tlogsdon@record-bee.com.
