If you happen to be around the Carrice Creek area of Toledo Bend Lake (just west of the Pendleton Bridge on the Texas side of the lake), be on the lookout for a gaggle of geese! These geese are a bit “famous”…
For several years, the four white geese and one grey goose have lived at Hodges Gardens State Park in Sabine Parish. The geese have lived in harmony with park patrons, entertaining many and perhaps occasionally unwittingly annoying some overnight guests with their happy honking. Because Hodges Gardens has closed, we relocated the geese yesterday to Byrd’s Nest (an RV park and campground) at Carrice Creek. Co-Owner Kelly Byrd kindly agreed to take the geese and allow her area to be a home base for them.
The geese have been at Hodges since they were practically babies, and so Hodges Park is all they really know… The 225-acre quiet, tranquil lake at Hodges is a world of difference from the 186,000-acre busy Toledo Bend Lake. We are hoping they adjust fairly quickly to their new environment.
By this morning, the geese had wandered a bit, into the main body of the lake, but were staying relatively close to Byrd’s Nest. I’m guessing they are just confused and checking out their new surroundings, perhaps trying to get a “lay of the land.”
We wanted to humbly ask that those on the lake who read this be on the lookout for the geese and be kind to them! They are super-duper friendly geese, not aggressive like geese can tend to be (they might hiss a bit, but they are harmless… they were raised by and around people and they truly love people, especially the ones who feed them).
Through the years at Hodges, they have amassed many “fans”, couples and individuals and all-around animal lovers who have visited the park regularly just to feed them and check on them. When the park closed at the end of September, they quickly got very lonely.
If you spot the geese feel free to comment and let us know how they are doing! We want to keep track of them to the degree they will cooperate, and we are hoping they will stay around the Byrd’s Nest area where they have a group of people willing to watch over them!