Feathered family stuck on a rooftop gets a fairytale ending

By Morgan Severson, CNN

Atlanta (CNN) — A family of seven recently overstayed their welcome at a swanky, boutique hotel in Atlanta’s trendy Old Fourth Ward neighborhood.

They didn’t have a reservation — but that wasn’t the problem.

This was a gaggle of Canada geese, nesting on the hotel’s rooftop garden patio. Mom and dad had been on the rooftop for awhile, but their five goslings — who were too young to fly — had no way to follow their parents down to a nearby pond, four stories below.

Michael Waters, a longtime volunteer with AWARE Wildlife Center, came to the rescue. Even as an experienced wildlife rescuer, Waters said saving the geese was tricky due to their behavior and strong gusts of wind.

“There were five little goslings, and they were all running in a fright,” Waters said. “The mother and father goose were both present and they both were sort of in their guardian mode and were being very protective.”

The goal of the rescue, Waters said, was to collect the entire family to keep them together and relocate them to a pond below.

“The first thing I thought was to collect the little ones because I was just so concerned about them at the precarity of the ledge,” he said.

After Waters collected the goslings in a box, he tried to capture the father goose.

“He fought me off of his wing and flew off the building,” Waters said. “He flew all the way down to the ground and was just honking like a little horror at the base of the building.”

Next, Waters tried to save the mother goose, but he realized she was also trying to escape. To prevent her from leaving, Waters released all the goslings, and she came after him trying to protect her babies.

“I was able to secure her in her enclosure, then I was able to collect all the babies again,” Waters said.

With the goslings and the mother goose captured, Waters took them outside to release them in the pond.

“Who was waiting there at the pond but the father goose!” Waters said. “So, it was just perfect.”

While the rooftop goslings had never been on the ground or in water before, Waters said they adjusted quickly.

“It was so lovely to see their little instincts step forward,” he said. “They immediately became amphibious and just waddled out and went out with mom and dad, and they all went to go live their wild lives.”

But how did the geese get themselves into this situation? Why would they want to nest on a hotel rooftop?

Kara Nitschke, migratory and game bird biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, said Canada geese are very adaptable and easily assimilate.

“In urban and suburban areas, we keep our grass short like golf courses, parks, neighborhoods,” Nitschke said. “Geese like that because they can walk through that easily.”

And she said it’s a “bonus” for the geese if these green spaces have a nearby pond.

“They can run to the water and hop in (if they feel threatened), and they feel perfectly safe and comfy,” she said.

The state of Georgia is home to about 250,000 Canada geese, according to Nitschke. Being a migratory species, the birds would make their yearly trip south from Canada. But in the 1970s and ’80s when migration slowed, Nitschke said the state stocked the environment with around 8,000 geese — and since then, the population has boomed.

Canada geese are federally protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. That means if someone comes across an injured or orphaned goose or wants to relocate a goose, that person would need a permit to handle it, Nitschke said.

If anyone finds a goose or any wildlife that might need help, Nitschke and Waters recommend they call their state wildlife department or a local wildlife rehabilitation center, like Atlanta’s AWARE, before interacting with the animal.

For Waters, who regularly works with and rescues animals, idealism keeps him motivated to continue his work.

“In any way that we can ameliorate or make better the effects that have consequences for these other beings,” Waters said, “I want to be someone who gives at least the effort for things to be made better.”

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