Take a gander

The geese came out of the water in a four and then a three. When the first four landed the second three changed course to join them on the grass.

As I watched them, I noticed that one of the geese took on the role of guard, keeping a wary eye on me.

Soon after, a second started to look around. And then three. That was the signal and all seven turned and went back into the water.

What I saw, enacted before me, was both a quorum and seven individuals. Each goose was simultaneously him or her self, with a personality and a rank, and part of a collective of seven geese, seemingly bound together by golden webs of intuitive understanding and shared intentionality.

Then a man stepped onto the grass and started feeding the birds. All the geese, the two herring gulls, the ducks, pigeons, moorhens, maybe crows too but I think I would have remembered them specifically... anyway, the birds were there and he was distributing food very fairly, making sure everyone got some.

Two of the geese took food from his hands.

On the whole, the birds were calm and not jostling much, though the geese seemed to take exception to the pigeons and to wish they could fend off the gulls. Now and then, one goose would hiss and threaten another.

The man came over to me. He said that these geese hatched here and he'd known them since they were babies. He used to be able to stroke them all. He told me that one is definitely the boss, and that one may be a parent. I had seen that they deferred to one. Maybe there were two and both parents were present. I hope so.