zut alors, comment t'appelle-tu?

i made the acquaintance of this peculiar specimen on the greenbelt yesterday. it is the friendliest, tamest bird, totally fearless of humans. as soon as i slowed down on my bike it ran right over to me, craned its neck up and begged like an adorable puppy...granted, an adorable puppy who happens to have mange or some other nasty skin condition, but still, very cute.

i knelt down in the grass and fed it a few pieces of an energy bar i had in my backpack. it was literally climbing into my lap to get to the treats, its huge webbed feet scrambling up the front of my thighs, and whenever i paused to take pictures it would start gently nomming on my pantlegs to let me know it was still hungry. it did that when i stood up too, and it followed me around until i pedaled away. i've never had a wild bird climb in my lap before. a giant bird, too, my goodness, it's the size of a large canada goose.

i searched online and went through a couple identification guides but so far no luck. it's like a goose-turkey-duck-vulture. a turduckooture. actually it's probably just some kind of goose, but i like to imagine that it's a mutant.