Edmonton man becomes gosling guardian

A gaggle of goslings were the most demanding neighbours Rob Heath has ever had.

A mother goose and her mate ruffled a few feathers when they took up residence inside a large planter atop the Churchill Exchange Building on the corner of 100th Street and 102ndAvenue last month.

Windows had to be shuttered tight to keep out the constant squawking of the birds, and the building's expansive patio was made off limits to tenants until the goslings took wing.

"It was great. I don't know about the rest of the people in the building because they didn't get to see this drama unfold. I was the lucky one," Heath said during a Tuesday morning interview on CBC Radio's Edmonton AM.

"You don't want to bother them too much, because nature has to take her course, and nature can be real nasty, as I found out."

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When five of the sixeggs finally hatched, Heath had a bird's eye view through his sliding patio doors of the feathered brood, parading around the deck.

But a few days later, when thebaby birds were left to their own devices on the deck, the idyllic scene took a dramatic turn.

Battle of the birds

"I saw some seagulls and some magpies circling around, so I went out onto the the deck to kind of shoo them off. But I got a phone call,"Heath said."I went into my apartment.I then I looked out the window and there was a crow flying off with one of them."

Hollering at the crows and seagulls circling overhead, Heath dived through his sliding glass doors, and rushed over to shelter the goslings from the attack.

"I had a clothing basket. There were four of them left, so Iput them under the clothing basket with some food and water until the parents got back," Heath said."I had kind of a string attached to it, so I pulled the string as soon as the kids were back with their mom and dad."

Heath resumed his role as gosling guardian once again the following morning.

Gosling godfather

When one of the birds took a turn for the worse, Heath didn't have the heart to let it die.

"It couldn't stand up, and its head was kind of bobbing up and down. The remaining chicks and their mom and dad were still parading around the roof, but they had kind of washed their hands of this chick,"Heath said."So I went out and got it, threw it in a basket and took it to the animal rescue, and they were going to turn it over to the wildlife rescue."

After a few days, Heath snuck out onto the deck again to build a makeshiftramp out of one of the patio chairs, so the birds could easily take flight.

By the next day,the geese were gone.

"I'm hoping they got away," said Heath. "Because the crows were circling around for the next few days, looking for another meal."

Despite all the ruckus they caused, as Heath looks at the cracked eggshells and downy nest left inside his patio planter, hecan't help but miss his feathered friends.

"I hope they come back next year," said Heath."It was amazing."