For geese in Wichita, home is where the nest is

There’s no place like home — especially the unusual spots where a couple of geese have chosen to build their nests in Wichita this spring.

One chose part of “Makin’ Hay,” a group sculpture by Tom Otterness, at the corner of Mike Oatman Drive and Perimeter Road on the Innovation Campus at Wichita State University. Passersby commonly see the mother goose perched protectively atop the highest bale in the 15-foot-tall sculpture.

Bob Workman, director of the Ulrich Museum of Art at WSU, conceded it’s a scenario that museum officials have never faced before.

“We’re going to let her nest,” Workman said.

“Makin’ Hay” has been on loan to the university for the past three years and is scheduled to be removed this summer, he said. But the loan doesn’t expire until the middle of August.

By then, the goose and any hatchlings won’t need the nest.

On the one hand, Workman said, it seems natural that a goose would build a nest there because hay is an organic material that is good for nesting. On the other hand, he said, he’s never seen anything like it.

“We don’t even get birds’ nests” in artwork because it’s typically brass or metal, Workman said.

The university artwork is just one quirky home for a goose nest in Wichita this spring. Another goose has built a nest at one of the traffic circles in Central Riverside Park.

WSU spokesman Joe Kleinsasser admitted to one small regret about the turn of events at the artwork next to Eck Stadium.

“I just wish the goose laid a golden egg and we’d all be fine on the budget,” he said.

This story was originally published May 6, 2017 at 3:16 PM with the headline "For geese in Wichita, home is where the nest is."