Just 'shoot' the goose quickly and get the heck out of there

More than 30 years ago when I was visiting friends in Munich, one day we went to a park on a lake.

It was there that I got one of the more memorable photographs of my life - a nasty looking goose with his wings extended and poised to attack if I came any closer to him.

I had enough time to snap off a couple of frames before I hightailed out of there because I was only using a 50 mm lens and that creature was just too close for comfort.

I think about that picture every once in a while - especially when I run across Canada geese around here.

And it is really easy to find Canada geese in the Naperville area these days and has been for many years now.

What are officially designated as "migratory birds" don't seem to be migrating much of anywhere anymore - at least partly because there are so many warm ponds, golf courses, parks and furniture store windows that seem to appeal to them.

Drive west of here and you can see what must be thousands of them in the fields.

They are a particular nuisance on golf courses. I have hard enough time putting without trying to work the ball around goose droppings on the green.

Canada geese are big, nasty birds, but I have to admit that when I see one I think in terms like "20 gauge," though I've never hunted a goose.

I hope if there is one thing that the recent newspaper and television accounts of the nesting geese outside the Route 59 furniture store brought home to people it's that it's good to keep your distance from them.

I would be especially careful if I had little children with me; geese can be very aggressive.

So if a goose is on the loose, keep the kids safe by guiding them well away from the critter.

• • •

Tuesday is Earth Day.

I've never been very sure what to do about that.

At least on Arbor Day - in Illinois, the last Friday in April, I figure I should go out and plant a tree. I never do, of course, but the thought is there.

In at least one respect, though, every Tuesday is Earth Day in our part of Naperville.

That's trash collection day and since most everybody in our area puts out recyclables as well, it means there is a fair amount of stuff from Hobson West subdivision that is making it to a recycling plant rather than a landfill.

This is pretty much true all over Naperville, for our fair city has been ahead of the curve for decades now with putting items to be recycled out on the curb once a week.

Earth Day started in 1970 to teach people about environmental issues.

I was in graduate school then and the first Earth Day had about as much meaning as St. George's Day - which is Wednesday, by the way.

But Earth Day has lasted a long time, well beyond my graduate school days.

So if my Earth Day card to you got lost in the mail, let me just say happy Earth Day to you.

Contact Tim West at west@scn1.com or 630-416-5290.