For your safety, cross over on your far right side

May 1, 2019 11:13 AM

Although the National Geographic headquarters in Washington, DC usually have nesting ducks in their courtyard (who often lay their eggs too early to survive), this year a pair of Canada geese laid their eggs on a 3rd floor ledge on their campus. When the goslings were too high off the ground to safely get to ground, they were escorted through the National Geographic building, including the elevator! (twitter thread)
posted by ChuraChura (31 comments total)

In related news, if you are at University of Waterloo, you can help the Student Success Office map goose nests around campus for student and goose safety.
posted by ChuraChura at 11:17 AM on May 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

This is excellent, but all those short clips annoyed me.
posted by Pendragon at 11:24 AM on May 1, 2019 [5 favorites]

Bravo! Brava! Bravery!!
posted by glasseyes at 11:34 AM on May 1, 2019

Epic Twitter thread! Thank you for this delightful afternoon treat.
posted by merriment at 11:37 AM on May 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

so adorable.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 11:41 AM on May 1, 2019

Geese: angry poop factories.
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:45 AM on May 1, 2019 [5 favorites]

This is the good shit I come to MetaFilter for.
posted by Fizz at 11:45 AM on May 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

Thank you for the warm fuzzies.
posted by Nieshka at 11:47 AM on May 1, 2019

TW for first article: lengthy pondering about how baby ducks may be dead.
posted by Melismata at 11:48 AM on May 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

I used to work at a four-story tall library with a green roof on top, and every year a family of ducks would build a next up there. The custodians kind of kept it to themselves - they would keep an eye on the nest and when they would hatch, they'd take their lunches on the roof and enjoy watching the ducklings run around. When they got big enough, the custodians would come in extra early, get a big box, and catch the ducklings (and the ducks, I suppose) and take them down the elevator and over to the river a few blocks away.

I told the head of facilities (who is a great guy, I have no doubt that the duck moving is humane and careful) that this is the sort of things that our patrons would LOVE and that they needed to have "Duckling Moving Day", or a livestream video of the rooftop, or something! I left that branch before any decisions were made about showing off the ducks. I bet that the custodians are still enjoying watching the ducklings while they take their lunchtime on the roof, their own little bird sanctuary.
posted by Gray Duck at 11:54 AM on May 1, 2019 [9 favorites]

this is so awesome. I am impressed with how chill the parental geese were during the move. and the babies are so cute n fuzzy!!
posted by supermedusa at 11:57 AM on May 1, 2019 [3 favorites]

This is the good shit I come to MetaFilter for.

Do you want a repeat of the Month of Shit? This is how you get the Month of Shit.
posted by briank at 12:03 PM on May 1, 2019 [4 favorites]

this is very very good
posted by lazaruslong at 12:23 PM on May 1, 2019

When I worked for the Historical Society of Washington, we used the NGS photo lab (which offered its services to the public for a fee) to make prints from glass plate negatives and lantern slides, since they had experience in handling them correctly. One day, while I was waiting in line, a peregrine falcon, pigeon in talons, flashed into view, thudded against the window (smearing it with a surprising amount of pigeon blood) and, after a brief recovery, proceeded to dissect the still-sort-of-living pigeon with its beak on the ledge in full view of a bunch of startled photo nerds.

There is a surprising amount of Wild Kingdom-type stuff happening around 17th & M Sts., NW.
posted by ryanshepard at 12:29 PM on May 1, 2019 [7 favorites]

Make way for the goslings!!!
posted by Hermione Granger at 12:40 PM on May 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

I'm a big fan of the red tail hawks in Golden Gate Park (thanks in no small part to our old friend rtha), but mrs. allkindsoftime has been tracking the ducks at Spreckles Lake and their new clutch of ducklings this spring. One of the old Chinese ladies that walks her dog around the lake told her that last year the red tails ate the ducklings, one by one. So we're hoping they aren't as successful in their duckling hunting this year. Safe swimming, little ones!
posted by allkindsoftime at 1:24 PM on May 1, 2019 [2 favorites]

I bet there's a good chance NG could solve the ducks' problems by modifying the artificial lighting of that courtyard

They might not even have to change the timing of the lights. It very well could be enough to eliminate blue frequencies if the circadian rhythms of the ducks – like ours – are reset by blue light, because my guess is egg laying is triggered by increasing day length at that latitude.
posted by jamjam at 1:28 PM on May 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

I worked in a small museum with a fountained courtyard, where ducks nested one year. We did have to march them through the Egyptian exhibit and then transfer them to a campus pond.
posted by Hypatia at 1:42 PM on May 1, 2019 [3 favorites]

There is a surprising amount of Wild Kingdom-type stuff happening around 17th & M Sts., NW.

I work close by there and saw the snowy owl who was in DC for a bit a couple winters ago hanging out at 17th and L, deciding which commuter to eat...
posted by Cocodrillo at 1:54 PM on May 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

So good. While biking home from physio many years ago, I herded a goose family down a parking ramp and onto a grassy median (cos that's what they seemed to want). I had to nudge a few of the goslings over a curb with my toe. There was a big yummy grass field nearby; I hope that was where they wanted to end up at.

my guess is [duck] egg laying is triggered by increasing day length at that latitude

Huh. I thought it was when a mommy duck and daddy duck loved each other very much.
posted by Artful Codger at 2:23 PM on May 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

Back in the days when gmail accounts were invite only, I was working at the local Children's & Women's hospital and it had ponds on campus.

One summer I saw a mother duck couldn't figure out why her ducklings couldn't get up the sidewalk curb. Found a broken piece of pallet and made steps for them.

All that's been paved over and built up now. Virtually unrecognizable.
posted by porpoise at 3:46 PM on May 1, 2019

Did somebody mention waterfowl in elevators?
posted by Huffy Puffy at 4:07 PM on May 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

In related news, if you are at University of Waterloo, you can help the Student Success Office map goose nests around campus for student and goose safety.

Goose Watch! This is my first nesting season working at Waterloo but regularly checked out the map from my old job in Toronto. They are vicious. Thank Mr Goose for good luck on exams.
posted by avocet at 4:26 PM on May 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

The geese near my office have had their babies. Adult geese are not very pleasant, but the babies are super fuzzy and adorable.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:48 PM on May 1, 2019

Cobra chickens, in formation!
posted by Tandem Affinity at 7:12 PM on May 1, 2019

This is delightful, and under no circumstances am I getting in an elevator with two adult geese who think I'm holding their babies hostage.
posted by jameaterblues at 7:21 PM on May 1, 2019 [7 favorites]

I lost it watching them walk through the turnstiles. Thanks for posting this.
posted by eirias at 4:17 AM on May 2, 2019

Hats off to the people who got into a lift with two canada geese. I know they were chill and it all went well, but it's like getting into a lift with an angry drunk. They may get full of rage at you at any moment.
posted by Vortisaur at 4:27 AM on May 2, 2019 [5 favorites]

My last home was the location, most years, of one or more nesting ducks. One of the many benefits of including more native plants in your yard in Florida. Sometimes a baby or two will get separated from the family, panic, and begin running in the wrong direction. Bad news next to a busy suburban street. My son and I became expert duck herders over the years. More than once we caught a baby with no fam in sight and cruised the neighborhood looking for its mother, to reunite the missing.

Experienced amateur tip: if you cup your hands around a very tired tiny duck, the warmth and comfort means it may snuggle up against your finger, flutter its bitty eyelids, peep softly, and fall asleep. Result: in an internal “awwwwwww” that will stay with you the rest of your life.
posted by Nancy_LockIsLit_Palmer at 5:49 AM on May 2, 2019 [11 favorites]

Speaking of the month of shit, I spent last week in Fort Collins, CO, where Canada geese have taken over the city. I was shocked at the size of their feces. Shocked. It's like a minefield out there. Huge piles of goose shit all over the sidewalks. Like something that you would expect to come out of a big dog, but everywhere.

Keep looking down.
posted by blurker at 8:12 AM on May 2, 2019 [2 favorites]

I've been trying (not very hard, more wondering) how much climate change ducks have already lived through since mallards are about at least 4 million years old IIRC.
posted by lokta at 1:43 AM on May 3, 2019