The Polar Plunge - Story of Lucy the Canada Goose

She would then stand and flap her wings quickly to remove the excess water. Next on the agenda was the preening. She puffed up the little feathers on her neck and used them as bristles to smooth out the larger wing feathers. Then last, but not least, she would use her mouth and the hacksaw blade-like teeth to staighten out each tail feather. I am amazed at the flexibility of her neck and the ways she can twist her head so that all areas of her body are properly tended to. After this whole process, she cooed repeatedly, letting us know she was contented and ready to go back into the warm garage for a nap. Little Lucky had cleaned herself too and was already marching back to the garage.

As I mentioned before, we live in Northern Minnesota, and a rain storm in mid-winter is very rare. However, on New Year's Eve, we had a rain storm. There was quite a bit of rain, and the ground was frozen. With this combination we ended up with pools of water in the low lying areas of our yard. Little did we know how much Lucy and Lucky would enjoy this. Greg took an ax and broke through the ice on one of the mini ponds providing a nice pool of fresh water for the two to take advantage of. It was like a day at the spa for them. Lucy would dip her head in the water using it as a scoop she would throw water up and over her head and down her back. She used a sideways motion to get her wings wet. She did this over and over until she felt she had been properly cleansed.