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Summary: A scientist's eye and a writer's eloquence
Review: The serendipitous adoption of a gosling sparked several years' close observation of her species as they nested in the bog near biologist Heinrich's Vermont home.The bog itself, with its variety of teeming life, provides a rich background community, illuminated by Heinrich's breadth of knowledge, curiosity and eloquence. Heinrich's ever-present sense of wonder ("Winter World," "Mind of the Raven") animates his keen scientific eye, quickening a corresponding fascination in the reader. His observations of geese, "peripheral to swamp watching," began in 1997 when a pair of Canada geese nested on a hummock in the beaver pond where Heinrich came every dawn, mostly to observe the beavers. Habituating himself to the pair, he expected to be able to enjoy a summer of observing their family life, but the day after the goslings hatched, the whole family disappeared, not to be seen again. The same thing happened the next year, and the next. Meanwhile, in 1998, Heinrich's toddler son acquired a day-old Canada goose, Peep. In just a few short paragraphs Heinrich conveys the manic difficulties of raising goose and toddler together over a summer, and the regret and relief when Peep disappeared one day, presumably to join one of the migrating flocks overhead. It was two years before he saw her again - standing on his gravel driveway with her mate at dawn, after announcing her presence in a raucous flight around his house. As Peep and her mate, dubbed Pop, showed signs of trying to nest (although Peep was a year younger than the usual nesting age) at the bog pond, Heinrich's enthusiasm for goose watching reached new heights. Often arriving before dawn, he observed the interactions between the resident pair and Peep and Pop as well as other geese that came to the bog looking to nest. The fights were noisy, dramatic, and puzzling, since there was plenty of room and food for all. But the resident pair drove off all comers and Peep and Pop finally chose a less desirable area nearby. To Heinrich's delight, Peep laid some eggs and the pair settled in. But Peep was not as attentive as older mothers tend to be and her nest was attacked more than once, its eggs tossed out. Though Heinrich did not catch them in the act, he suspected the resident geese in the adjacent pond, as the eggs were not eaten. While observing Peep and Pop's trials and tribulations as well as feeding and pair bonding behavior, and the dramas enacted between other geese, Heinrich also notes the inexplicable antics of the red-winged blackbirds, the forest-shaping habits of the beavers, and the baby-sitting behaviors of grackles, among many others. He relates the process of habituating the geese to his presence and how Peep's treatment of him differed from that of the wild geese. Though none ever went so far as Peep and her reluctant mate who visited his yard daily whenever possible, Jane (the resident goose in the main pond) allowed him to examine her nest, even after the eggs had hatched. Watching the geese over several years, Heinrich reports a number of curious and anomalous behaviors. The myth of the faithful goose explodes in a drama of faithlessness and opportunism any soap opera could be proud of, a drama that helps to explain some of the other puzzling anomalies he notes. Like any scientist Heinrich reaches theoretical conclusions, but he saves them until the end, allowing the reader to puzzle things out independently. He also includes four appendices: a chronology of geese at the two beaver ponds; a summary of pioneering ethologist (animal behaviorist) Konrad Lorenz' work with the Greylag geese, which Heinrich read extensively after concluding his own observations; a discussion of the races and populations of Canada Geese, and a list of birds found around Beaver Bog. Naturally he also includes an extensive list of sources by topic. An involving, engaging and vivid writer, Heinrich reminds us how intricate and amazing a place the world is, while illuminating a bit of its mystery.
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