Goose named Ryan Gosling gets the girl — and a new brood emerges

I called him Ryan Gosling. So what if he was a full-grown Canadian goose, not a gosling? I have always had a thing for the actor Ryan Gosling, and the name seemed to fit him, so it stuck.

What also stuck was his poop to our dock. Like most geese, Ryan Gosling was an incredible pooper. This made my husband crazy, since he was the guy who cleaned it up.

“I’m roping off the dock,” Mark told me in the spring of 2013. “That goose has got to go.”

“Oh, he ‘goes’,” I said, trying to add levity to the situation.

When Mark didn’t laugh, I changed my approach.

“He needs our dock,” I told my husband. “He’s suffering from depression. Why do you think he sits there all alone, watching the other geese swim by with their mates?”

“Because he’s nuts?”

“No, because he’s a widower.”

After weeks of watching Ryan brood on our dock, I consulted a bird expert about his behavior. She theorized he had lost his mate and was either too old or too unhealthy to attract a new one.

Was Mark sympathetic to Ryan’s plight? Not one bit. He did, however, agree to let the goose stay – if I would agree to clean up his messes.

“Not a problem,” I told him. And honestly, it wasn’t. I felt a true connection with this broken-hearted bird, and what’s a little goose poop between friends?

OK. A lot of goose poop. Unbeknownst to Mark, I had started feeding Ryan near the woods behind our dock. After gorging on birdseed and multigrain bread, he would honk his appreciation before waddling back to the dock.

Then one day, following a particularly succulent meal, Ryan hopped in the lake and sailed off for parts unknown. Was my feathered friend ready to take the plunge? I really wasn’t sure. I shared my concerns with my husband.

“He’s a goose, Michelle. He’s doing what geese are supposed to do.”

“But do you think he’s ready?”

“Time will tell,” my husband said and smiled.

The exact time was 3 p.m. the following Saturday. I was looking out our kitchen window when I saw not one, but TWO Canadian geese land on our dock. I almost broke my ankle running toward them.

Could it be? Yes it could.

Ryan honked and waddled in my direction.

This is going to sound like I’m making it up, but I really think he came back to introduce me to his new girlfriend. I told the happy couple to stay right there while I grabbed the bread and birdseed.

“I didn’t throw down a white tablecloth,” I told Mark later, “but I did serve wine and light candles.”

He chuckled before saying, “Just so long as you hosed down the dock afterward.”

“What dock? They dined in the grass.”

Over the next several days, the happy couple periodically dropped by to dine and dash. At some point, however, the other lake geese horned in. When a small flock showed up demanding to be fed, I decided it was time to close up shop.

Without the lure of free food, Ryan and his new mate visited less and less often. Not long after, they started a family. They sailed by our dock and honked their hellos. Their babies were adorable.

What else would you expect from Ryan Gosling’s goslings?

This story was originally published April 8, 2017 at 10:00 AM with the headline "Goose named Ryan Gosling gets the girl — and a new brood emerges."