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There's a mother goose. Lots of mother geese. A bunch of father geese. And so many offspring, they stop traffic.
"The secret is to keep moving very slowly," North Park naturalist Meg Scanlon advises drivers who want to pass through the goose jam that often clogs the road near Marshall Lake and the ice skating rink.
Drivers who stop can end up engulfed in grazing geese.
Both a fascination and a frustration, the 500 resident Canada geese in North Park are cursed with good fortune -- their natural hardiness and the best of intentions.
For decades, Pittsburgh families have grabbed the kids and a loaf of stale bread and headed to North Park to feed the geese and ducks.
For a time, there was a dispenser with feed corn at Marshall Lake.
"I used to bring my kids out here with bread for the ducks and geese. I was one of the culprits," said Gil Coda, maintenance supervisor for North Park, whose children are now grown and have children of their own.
The tradition officially ended two years ago when county officials posted "Please don't feed the waterfowl" signs at Marshall Lake and at the nearby section of North Park Lake.
The ban is not an ordinance, it's a plea from park management.
"A lot of people are upset by the nonfeeding policy," said Scanlon. "It's a nice family tradition to come down and get close to the ducks and geese. People can still get close and not give them any food."
But because...