#24 Egyptian Goose
Egyptian Goose (910mm x 760mm acrylic on stretched canvas)
There is something deeply mysterious and stirring about the call of the geese as they fly up the valley and over the house as dusk slides into darkness; timekeepers of the ending day, their synchronised flight wheeling in unison towards the coming night.
Time in nature reveals many of its wonders, all single aspects of the larger interconnected whole, of species and habitats, seasons and sun-paths, and amongst them are the ecological engineers whose actions alter the landscape and continue the flow of life’s potential. I think of the elephants and their effect on forests and trees, the porcupine’s scrapings offering a shallow depression for a seed to fall and be covered with water and soil in the next rains, even the track of the hippo to and from the river plays a role in the changing landscape.
For us to reflect on our role as ecological engineers is to start small and in balance, but from then on to rapidly escalate till rivers become concrete sluices, forests become fields and the oceans become dumps for toxic waste. But amongst all of this we still encounter the lives of so many wonderful species that live amongst us, including the Egyptian geese. Ironically the increasing numbers of geese points to our continuing impact on the world as they benefit from the sanctuary and food that our fields and crops offer them. A strange reciprocity in an upturned world, till the sun starts sinking and a deeply mysterious and stirring call gives my soul flight and I again settle to the coming night.
Thank goodness for the geese.
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