Painted Geese
The Painted Geese are a common waterfowl found on most of Yuriba's waterways.
Description
Painted Geese are an average size goose, slightly larger than the Tawny-Breasted Duck, yet smaller than the Lucent Swan. The most striking feature of the goose is something similar to the native Painted Beetle; their feathers are splotched and randomly colored, though where the beetle is a rainbow of colors, the goose is 'painted' in shades of brown and white. There is no particular pattern, they simply looking as if a painter had casually and without sense painted them with splotches of color. Where two colors meet, the colors often blend and mix and fade into one and other, but are just as often two blocks of color separated by a sharp line. The only set colors that all animals share are the dull yellow beaks and legs.
Habitat, Behavior and Diet
Painted geese are easily found on all fresh water on the island, found bobbing on lakes and ponds, and swimming down Yuriba's rivers and streams. They avoid the ocean's edge, and are only rarely found within the mangroves, seen there only briefly after the strong rains of spring and fall, and only then to forage. Nesting within tall grass and reeds, the geese prefer to nest nearby a calm body of water, either a pond or a slow flowing river or stream. Though the geese try to stay near to the water, their nests have been found in the middle of a field, though these nests are often unsuccessful in raising a brood and the young geese which often make them tend to learn from this mistake and build closer to a water source in following years.
Semi-social, Painted Geese form small polyamorous groups of five to six members every spring, the composition of the group changing each year, the small flock moving about the island together and nesting within vocal range of the others. There is no dominant pair among the group, and they will seem to make a point to mate with each of the others in the group. Half of the geese (rounded down if an odd numbered group) will then lay a clutch of eggs, the number of eggs the same as the number of members to the group. When the goslings hatch, the entire group will tend to the babies.
When winter falls, the geese will gather together in larger flocks, four to five of the small groups banding together and gathering in the interior forests and western wilds. Claiming a small clearing or grove, the geese will then switch to roosting in trees and foraging through the forest for food in the winter. As the winter thaw approaches, great flocks of geese gather together in the largest lakes on the island, socializing for a week or two before they once again separate into the small breeding flocks for the warmer months.
The Painted Geese are omnivorous, feeding off of seeds, acorns and plant roots in the winter that they can find below the snow and leaf litter. Tadpoles, small fish, frogs, bugs and bug larva make up their diet in the summer.
Additional Information
Painted Geese are a common, much appreciated animal on the island, the natives having multiple uses for the birds. The geese are gathered most often by bow and arrow, used in traditional cooking, most often roasted rather than in a soup or stew like other birds often are. The down is packed into pillows and comforters, the longer feathers used for decoration and writing quills. The more colors on a feather, the more favored it is for those of the artistic persuasion, while feathers more solid colored are often chosen by those who write stories.
Occasionally, the geese are able to be raised domestically, however they lose their painted look within a generation, the meat growing less rich and dryer as well. As a consequence, the native population rarely keeps them in a farming sense, prefering to gather the birds from the wild for their look and the quality of the meat. The only time chicks will get caught and raised in a coop is when there is an expected large event at the end of the season to assure having the needed amount, such as a banquet celebrating the appointment of a head priestess of a temple, or the large Centennial Gathering in Underhill.