Mr Goose Update

Yesterday I decided to go out in the morning this time, hoping that the hour would make a difference in the missing Mrs. Goose's schedule. Though my prior visits were midday and afternoon, it wasn't much cooler at 9:30 AM. The sunlight was such that I could, for the first time, see through all the dense underbrush on one side of the center island.  I searched for signs of her even though I know their home is on the back, where the ground remained shrouded. No luck.

The alarming thing is that I didn't see Mr. Goose this time either!  Oh woe is me.  

I did see the other two, who honked their usual greeting and swam all the way across the lake to take a few pieces of bread from my hand. I ended up walking the distance over to where they usually hang out and didn't see either of them.

On the way home I attempted to comfort myself by thinking my timing has been bad, or that she's indeed sitting on a nest, though I've known them together for two plus years yet never seen them with goslings.  I wondered if they got fed up and flew off to one of the other bodies of water that I have seen waterfowl at... but why would she go first and he stay behind for a week? Did she die and after a few weeks then he decided to fly off? Or did something happen to him too now?

In reading more about them I learned they make good meals...  is it possible that someone actually nabbed these birds to cook up? There's an awfully large mix of cultures in Houston that might find that to be quite normal.

I stopped two uniformed park people in a golf cart driving by and asked if they knew of the geese (they did) and had noticed she was gone.  Had they heard she was found dead or sick? They had no news of such a thing. 

Guess I have to hold out hope that Mrs. Goose is sitting on a nest, or this heat is just too much for her, and at the unfortunate timing of my visit, Mr. Goose -- albeit for the first time --was deep in the center island where they made their home, keeping her company.