Jeff's Tales

"From A Bird's Eye View"

                                  "From A Birds Eye’s View"


                                                              By Gus Feathers





Dear Readers


I would first like to express on behalf of my family and me, that we thank your God that all the passengers and crew members on US-Airways/ Flight-1549 are safe and home with their family members and friends. We would also like to praise Captain CB “Sully” Sullenberger for his heroic and talented skills. His expertise on how he handled the entire situation from take-off, to moments later with the miraculous landing into the Hudson River.


On the other end of the spectrum, my family and I thought it would be appropriate to share with you what our community experienced over this past week, as the story broke over our broadcast stations and newsrooms.


Our species called “birds” understands that this letter is most likely will not to be understood by your species, called “humans”. We are confident from our research over the centuries, that your people do not believe that we geese have a structured community similar to yours. Your scientist have yet to discover that we live not much different then you and  in many ways are far more advanced than the human race. A prime example of this would be, how many centuries did it take you to learn on how to fly?


Let’s now get back to the issue, which is to remind you that this past week, although a blessing for you, was a sad and tragic week for the geese and duck world.


I was with my elder ducklings when the word cam across the wire,  there had been a tragic accident between a jet-liner and a flock of geese, just after take-off, at an airport in NYC.  The first reports, indicated that a US Airways flight was only moments in the air, when suddenly, a flock of geese were sucked into the turbine engines, causing a malfunction of the engines. The results were such, that the engines shut down and the A/C circled back around and landed in the Hudson River.


At the time off the catastrophe, it was confirmed that the geese involved, were not to be of a violent nature and only appeared to be at the wrong place, at the wrong time.


My first thoughts were, were these local or foreign geese.  The first reports, although premature, indicated they Canadian geese, apparently headed south on vacation. Within an hour after the incident, that first report had been proved incorrect. The NYC geese squad had reviewed the remains of the flock and determined that they were of a local breed. 


Suddenly the reality of the situation hit me, our Sister Geese Club, had an invite to Japan to spend a week the Tokyo Geese Club. The two groups were to compare each others culture differences, especially concentrating in the area of communications.


The next day, our local newspaper staff had confirmed the worst, which the flock of geese destined for Tokyo, had not arrived at their 1st night stay in Ocean City, Maryland. 


Our town Geese Commissioner, had ordered a special meeting at the Town Hall the following morning to discuss our next course of action.


Early that next morning on 1/20/09, it was voted that our SGTT


(Special Geese Task Team) fly in formation to the crash scene, to assure that all the facts and evidence are on the table. On 1/21/09, the SGTT arrived at the scene. It was by no means a pretty picture; in fact the only pieces of evidence remaining were a small pile of feathers. The feathers were placed in an envelope and will be sent to a local lab for a DNA matching.


Although we are sadly confident the test results are going to confirm our community’s loss, we still continue to pray for a miracle that our feathered friends will be home in the near future. No matter the outcome, our community will pull together and most likely will be stronger because of this misfortune.


The once so popular slogan “Fly High, Fly the Friendly Sky”, is no longer. This slogan is now being replaced with “Fly Low, Watch Where You Go


Take care my “human friends” and may the geese be always at your back.


Sincerely,


Gus Feathers.








Human Sponsor:


Jeffrey B. Waters