In southeast Boise, Boise State University's Ron and Linda Yanke Family Research Park sits between the Boise River and Parkcenter Boulevard. Because of its lush green campus and proximity to the water, the building is home to many geese who choose to nest and settle in along the facility. The building is also home to Boise State Public Radio. (You may have even heard on-air geese making noise directly above our studios.)
Though goose and gosling sightings are common at the station, a particular family of geese has captured our attention.
A little over a month ago, a pair of geese set up home in the courtyard of the Yanke Building and laid eggs. In the days since they hatched, the goslings mastered their walks and waddles, but they can't fly yet. Surrounded by building walls on all four sides, it was next to impossible for this family to get to the river.
In an attempt to help them start their lives near water in the wild, BSPR Engineer Kira Parker and other Yanke staff decided to intervene. They delicately guided the family of five through the building lobby with a tennis ball fastened to a rake's end, a method borrowed from Prairie Mountain School in Oregon. Officials at the K-8 school escort a duck and her ducklings from their courtyard, through the school hallways and to a nearby wetland area in what has now become a yearly tradition.
Our own geese and goslings were able to navigate the slick tiles of the Yanke Building lobby and make it safely through the front door. We captured their travels in the video below.
Should this goose family choose to nest in the courtyard again next spring, we would gladly welcome the tradition.
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