Oh Cinnamon.
I'm so very sorry about the pain you have suffered.
I also sympathize with your frustration and anger regarding this case. (IMO, giving birth is not a requirement to be a mother in some child's life. Neither, IMO, is giving birth a guarantee that a woman will actually be a mother to her child.) Every time I come to this thread, I cry.
O/T Rant about to begin. For a while, but eventually I get to the point.
For many years we lived in an apartment across the lane from a highrise office tower. Our balcony was on a level with that of a dentist's office where a few mating pairs of Canada Geese had established their nests. Over time, my family got used to the vocal habits of the geese as they went through the whole process of producing the next generation of big, militaristic birds. The geese had a range of calls that we got pretty good at interpreting. Some were funny. (For example, one of Alpha male geese took offence at the carpet cleaning truck noises, strutted over to the balcony railing, puffed up his chest and produced the most ungodly sound--sort of like bagpipes run through a synthesizer and amplified. Honestly. That goose was louder than the truck. He kept up the ruckus for a long time--unbelievable breath control--until the dentist gave up tapping on his window and came onto the balcony and told the goose to shut up. The gander looked stunned and offended. He just stared as the dentist went back into his office, then honked in a more normal tone. I believed this was goose for "you're not the boss of me, so there". Thank goodness the cleaning was finished, the noise shut off, and the goose didn't feel he had to challenge some strange new animal with a bad singing voice. His job of protecting the nest, the females and potential goslings done, the gander pushed off into the air. His alpha male image intact.)
Other calls were just practical. Canada Geese are like a well organized military unit. They honk to tell slowpokes to keep up with the rest of the wedge, they honk to encourage the leader of their flights, and they honk to check in with each other. They even refrain from honking when they want to sneak up on something as unsavoury as a seagull, a raven, or a crow. (I've watched a gaggle of geese enter the water and take over a quiet corner of False Creek inlet. They allowed some mallards to sun themselves a few yards away from their territory, but seagulls were kept at bay. As I sat on a bench near the sea wall, I thought it was the most peaceful scene I'd seen in some time. Then, I noticed a couple of young geese coming in for a landing. The two were silent as they approached. Right up to the second they landed with huge splashes and much loud honking within inches of the mallards. I swear the geese were laughing as the mallards went straight up into the air in shock. They have range, those geese.)
Back to memories at the apartment. Through the day, different geese flew by to check on the nesting females. The ganders stayed close, marching around the nests. Once I noticed that there seemed to be only one female on her nest when crows appeared on the office building's roof. I was worried, but Mother goose did a really good job of getting rid of most crows (I swear she was hissing and spitting and swearing as she did it.) But a few of the black birds still hung around. So she called an alarm. In seconds the Canada goose version of the military police swept in and suddenly there were no crows for blocks.
At night, we got used to hearing the night patrol doing a fly by. Every two hours. It got to be so routine that I woke up if there was no honking and I would worry about the geese.
Once when the goslings had hatched, office people actually let the mother geese lead their babies through the office to the elevator and herded them downstairs. I think the building manager lured them to a truck (with the mothers) and drove the families to the water in the lake nearby. Better I guess than letting them try to cross a highway. When the males showed up they kept calling for hours, they flew to every level and walked the parking lot. Honestly, they walked up to people and honked at them. It was as though they were begging for information and they knew that somehow humans were involved with whatever had happened to their families. Eventually the ganders left, and, from what the office mgr told me, found their mates and babies.
At every park they where they set up residence, Canada geese get the reputation of being mean and very aggressive if anyone goes near their goslings. An angry goose with a wingspan approaching six feet and a long, pointed beak is something to be avoided at all costs. People who've been whacked by those wings feel as though their arms have been broken. Geese take their security very seriously.
These birds would die to defend their babies. They keep watch over their goslings. They have each others' backs. They aren't always successful, for predators are so numerous, but they try. And they are birds! Birds!
What does it say when a wild goose cares more about whereabouts of her gosling than a woman cares about the whereabouts of her little girl?
End of rant.
