This is bird note.

Is any bird more ordinary, more unlikely to draw praise than a barnyard goose honking and waddling about the farm.

The humble goose once had a much higher profile.

To ancient Egyptians, the goose symbolized the Sun God Ra.

Greeks linked the goose with Aphrodite, the goddess of love, and geese are prominently

featured in the Shizing, the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry,

which dates from the 11th to the 7th century BC.

The goose of today's farmyards was domesticated about 3,000 years ago from the

gray lag goose. The wild goose species still found today throughout much of Europe

and Asia.

Gray leg geese are a soft, grayish brown with pink legs, an orange bill, and a stout body.

They occupy open habitats such as farmlands, lagoons, and swamps.

Most breed in northern latitudes across the two continents

and winter to the south, some as far south as North Africa and India. Today the gray lag and its domestic

descendants are more likely to be celebrated as the main course of a holiday feast,

then worshipped or exalted in poetry.

But there's no denying their prominent role in human history.

For Bird Note, I'm Mary McCann. you're