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"Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" 8 - PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, April 19,1994 . Sp? Joe Duff (left) and Bill Lishman are seen here Lishman's geese finally find their way back home J. Peter Hvidsten Port Perry Star "They're gone." Those were the first words Bill Lishman spoke as he opened the door to his home last Sunday morning. I had just arrived to do an up- date on the return of his lost family of Canada Geese only to find they had flown away over the night. So, like an anxious parent, waiting for his kids to return from a late night party, Bill sug- gested we sit in the atrium at the rear of their home where he could keep an eye out for their return. It was just two days earlier the lost geese returned to their home in Purple Hill after being missing for 11 days. Friday morning when Paula Lishman and her neighbor Lynn Wonnacott were out for their usual early morning walk they heard the sound of geese coming from the field and went to investigate. Mrs. Wonnacott told the Star by phone on Friday there were 13 geese in Lishman's back yard when they arrived. It wasn't until later, when Richard VanHeuvelen, an employee of the Lishman's tried to put them in the pen, they found that three of these were wild geese. While all of this excitement was happening in Purple Hill, Bill Lishman, partner Joe Duff and friend Jack Weber were in a motorhome making their way back to Canada. On route home, Mr. Lishman called ahead to one of their stops near Albany, New York, and learned his geese had returned home. "I was completely surprised," he said. "Frankly I though they were gone. I didn't believe we would ever see them again." He arrived home Friday night, but didn't re-introduce himself to the geese until the next morning. Before letting them out of their pen, he spent some time in the cage with them to renew their bond. He says there were two dominant geese in his original ETER HVIDSTEN / PORT PERRY STAR with part of their flock of Canada Geese. CASUAL STYLE 30% OFF ON ALL OUR R.G. BROWNS JEANS, CASUAL PANTS & SHORTS FOR MEN AND r flock of 16 geese, and still hopes the others will find their way back to Lishman"s property. The geese are now free to fly as they please but Bill intends to monitor their whereabouts throughout the summer. He expects the geese, which he now calls "worldly" because they've had a chance to travel on their own, will still use Purple Hill as their home base over the next few months. During molting season, which starts in June, the geese will be unable to fly for about six weeks and he says they will probably feel safer along the shores of Lake Scugog than in his back yard where coyotes could get them. "They're free birds now," Bill says, but there is little doubt deep down he hates to see them fly off on their own. One would think that after spending eight years, raising, training and flying with the geese, Mr. Lishman would take a break. But not Father Goose! He has little time to think about the past as he's already out collecting another batch of Canada Goose eggs to hatch. Once again, he will incubate the eggs, introduce the goslings to the whine of an engine and his haunting "goose, goose, goose," call as he coaxes them into the sky for their first flight behind his ultra-light. This year he's hoping to develop a small, radio trans- mitter to mount on the geese so he will be able to track their flight patterns more closely. Bill Lishman is elated by the success of his first migration, and surprised at how the media has taken to the project, but realizes this is not a time for reflection. And while one chapter of his adventure may be over, this story has just begun. At the conclusion of another year Mr. Lishman plans to take the information and experience gained with Canada Geese and begin teaching the endangered Whooping Crane and Trum- peter Swans to migrate. And after his success with geese, there are few who would doubt he can do it again. FS TEL WE WN (ND -- ay WOMEN Sale ends Monday, April 25, 1994 CK'S Service, Quality & Style Since 1881 UATE [BY 3 id PIZZA & SUBS rr 80 Water Street, Port Perry 985-8448 > Free Delivery in a Limited Area wo | J THE ORIGINAL 20 PIECE BIGFOOT? 2 Pr09 of your choice! Extra Toppings ? Just Ask] [J FAST FREE ALL DAY DELMVERY Find us fast in the "Yellow Pages" ™ pls tax Expires April 28/94 NIP THE DRIP? i Faucets, toilets, or pipes ... a drip problem that needs fl attention. Drips can be costly and are a needless source fl of irritation. Call today and let Mr. Rooter nip the drip! 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