@JuneOntario
Thank you for painting such beautiful words. I have tears in my eyes.
When I lived in Connecticut, I rehabilitated many birds, but my favorite by far was a Canada goose we called Bob.
He had experienced a difficult migration and landed in our neighborhood starving, injured and sick. Evidently word had travelled through the Goose Grapevine that I was an easy mark for a free meal and a safe resting place. I saw Bob at the far end of the street 8 houses away and he saw me. He walked, limped, hobbled up to me and standing at my feet he said, "........ ........". Well, he tried, but no sound came out; it appears that his neck had been injured, it was very crooked. I scooped him up. It took 3 vet visits and several weeks to get him back to health.
When it was time to release him, none of the wild flocks would have him. We even drove out to Monroe to the flock at the reservoir. No, they didn't want our Bob either and I feared for his safety. They were a mean bunch! I thought we would be stuck with Bob permanently.
Then I remembered the small flock which lives permanently near the Old Mill Green pond in Milford. Full of hope, we took Bob to meet the local, non-migratory geese; we offered the entire group plenty of bread. The locals seemed to like him (well, either him or the free bread). They didn't seem to mind that he had a very crooked neck.
The following day we went back twice to feed the group and Bob swam right up to us. He came on shore to be petted and fed.
The third day Bob started to swim towards us but the other geese called Bob telling him to turn back. He floated in the middle of the water, undecided, looking from them to us, and finally with one last look over his left wing, he turned his crooked neck and he returned to his flock. He had found a home.
