The Geese of Beaver Bog by Bernd Heinrich, Ecco, 拢24.95ISBN 0060197455 Reviewed by Jonathan Beard
BERND Heinrich, an animal-behaviour expert, who has previously studied ravens and antelope, turns his sharp eyes and ears on the Canada geese one summer in Beaver Bog.
He raises a gosling that becomes 鈥渋mprinted鈥� upon him, in the tradition of ethologist Konrad Lorenz, and then turns it loose. Two long years later, Peep returns, mate in wing, to nest on the pond outside his rural Vermont home. Heinrich then devotes three years to observing Peep 鈥� and Pop, and later Jane and Harry 鈥� as they mate, lay eggs, raise goslings, departing each summer to return the next spring.
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His powers of observation are impressive. He knows that giving the geese names and making them tame enough for him to poke into their nests is not the type of 鈥渉ard science鈥� he applied to his work on thermoregulation in insects, but, as professor emeritus of biology, he is now simply enjoying the geese 鈥� though this means rising at dawn, notebook in hand.
Heinrich writes beautifully yet plainly, and eventually solves the mystery of where his geese disappear to each summer once their goslings can walk. A nice introduction to animal behaviour.