Goose nests in upscale location outside Executive Board chair’s office

Executive Board chair Pauline van der Meer Mohr’s balcony was recently claimed by a female Egyptian Goose who chose this spot to lay her eggs.

It feels as if spring is once again approaching. Blackbirds are tentatively singing at dawn and at twilight, magpies are flying about with materials to build their nests and some birds have even started laying their eggs, even though the Netherlands Society for the Protection of Birds (Vogelbescherming Nederland) website states that the breeding period doesn’t start until early May.

Upscale location

And now an Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca) has built its nest on campus. The bird has certainly chosen an upscale location: she laid her eggs in a flower box on Executive Board chair Pauline van der Meer Mohr’s balcony, located on the second floor of the Erasmus Building (previously known as the A-building).

Ans and Hans

According to reports the bird is sitting on six eggs. It’s not clear yet what name should be given to the expecting mother, but employees working in the building have informally dubbed her Ans for the time being (apparently there is also a Hans flapping about on campus). However, our Executive Board chair has very different ideas with regard to the name. She feels the lady goose should be named Lady Julie, after a character in the books of the nineteenth-century Swedish novelist Strindberg. GvdE