Canada (not Canadian) geese can't care less about Canada or the United States. Where they land is where they feed. Where they feed is also where coyotes feed. Herbivores enjoy the grass. Carnivores enjoy the herbivores. Simple, plain, and true. That's the beauty--or the beastiliness--of Darwinism. 

Nature is so idyllic when the geese are fattening themselves on the pre-Thanksgiving grass. Nature is so "red in tooth and claw" when the coyotes are fattening themselves on the pre-Thanksgiving geese. Neither geese nor coyotes can help doing what they are doing. They are just interacting and interfering with each other the way they are supposed to be. They don't take it personally, like we human beings do. That's why we human beings, I surmise, stay on top of the food chain. But, like geese and coyotes, we human beings are chained to the food chain, too. Everyone has to eat, after all. I therefore can't really say to myself or others that it's none of my business when it comes to survival. I may not be the fittest, but so far I still survive, thanks to a given survival instinct. Ditto for a goose. Ditto for a coyote. 

Thanksgiving is around the tight corner as I watch, from my patio, yet another little fur-and-feather drama playing out in a parcel of wilderness. By the way, this parcel of wilderness is there for us, so that we are willing to pay more as homeowners. Call it the American Dream.

No one eats geese or coyotes here. Sorry, turkeys.

Author: Lingyang Jiang