The other day I stood in my yard when I heard that lovely sound. Against the blue sky was the familiar V-formation of a dozen geese, trumpeting their arrival like noisy house guests. I watched, feeling that familiar stirring. Spring is here.
I’ve grown to love these animals. I follow their trail in the sky and wonder if other humans stop and watch their passing, paying homage to creatures that make an incredible journey without maps, planes, or radar.
Yes, they can be pests with their droppings and loud, squawking presence, but they’re also endearing with smooth gray bodies and white chinstraps. Apparently they fly around 3000 feet up, but have been spotted as high as 29,000.
In my youth I barely noticed them, too intent on playing with Barbie or flirting with the new neighborhood boy.
Now in my later years I stop and savor the rhythms of nature. Compared to the frenetic human world, there’s something unhurried and soothing about the cycles of animals.
I made a quick search on Wikipedia. During their time here, geese will mate in fresh water lakes and ponds. Both parents will raise their goslings although the female spends more time at the nest.
From time to time I see geese families crossing the road with one parent leading and one at the end, fluffy yellow goslings in the middle, all in a straight line.
They’ll stay for six months and then head home. The babies must be strong enough to make the journey.
In October I’ll watch them leave, honking their noisy goodbyes. The sight always makes me sad. Another warm season has ended. Another winter is coming.
But that’s the future. For now the geese have arrived, bellowing out their hellos. Spring is here and all is well.
Do love the sound and sight of Canadian geese? Comments are always welcome and if you’d like, please share. Thank you!
Janeane M Davis
This article was a joy to read. I liked the old tradition of knowing spring was coming because of the sound of the geese. I also liked the juxtaposition of modern times with the Wikki search. This was nice writing to read.
Laurie Stone
Janeane, Thanks so much!
Diane
Those noisy Canadians. Always ready to party!
They were early this year! Arriving early in March! Yow! Skating again, but happy to be home.
Laurie Stone
I started hearing them about a month ago here. What a beautiful sound and so welcome!
Diane
They had a bit of a rude welcome here this year. The lakes in our town were still frozen solid. But they skated across the ice in a masterly manner as though it was exactly what they were expecting. I think it took about three weeks after we spotted the first of them for one to actually be able to swim! I love their arrival. It is our first sign of spring, too!
P.S. Finally saw a robin. The second sign.
Laurie Stone
Diane, It must be beautiful up there when spring really hits. Like us, it’s always welcome.
Carol Cassara
I remember the geese from my growing up years in western NY. Marked seasonal shifts!
Laurie Stone
Carol, Their sounds make me happy.
Bonnie K. Aldinger
TQ and I used to do a good bit of kayak camping when he was living near the Norwalk Islands in CT, and I have particularly fond memories of a spring trip where we camped on an island that had a salt pond that seemed to be a particularly favored spot for geese to overnight. We had so much fun just watching the interactions – the first flock that landed sounding so gleeful that they’d nabbed the place, and then the challenges that went back and forth as other flocks flew low overhead to check things out and the early arrivals yelled “Go away, no room for you here!” – and then there were one or two flocks who were still in the air when the last light was fading, and as they honked back and forth at each other as they flew over, we just imagined them as bickering like a family in a car on a road trip where they saw a motel at four in the afternoon and everybody except the driver wanted to stop but the driver insisted that it was too early and just kept going and they hadn’t seen another decent place to stop since then.
They aren’t really a harbinger of Spring here in NYC though – there’s a fairly good sized population who’ve decided that migration is for suckers and just stay here all year. The birdcall that I always look forward to as saying that spring is here is the “WHEET! WHEET! WHEEETwheetwheetwheetwheet” of the American Oystercatcher. They head south for the winter and you won’t hear a single one from November through February. The earliest are sometimes back by late February (that’s gambling with the weather) by late March the flocks are really getting back and the air is filled with their calls as they sort out their territory.
The first oystercatcher of spring almost always gets a mention in my blog – a couple of times, they’ve even gotten me to pick up my paintbrushes.
Homage to a bird –
http://frogma.blogspot.com/2010/05/oystercatchers.html
and then here’s what I picture the oystercatcher who got back early and then got snowed on looking like –
http://frogma.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-early-bird.html
🙂
Laurie Stone
Bonnie, I love your pictures! So pretty and whimsical. I also love your take on how the geese want the “driver” to pull over. Laughing. I never heard of an oystercatcher. I’ll look that up right now. Thanks so much.
Bonnie K. Aldinger
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed that little ramble down memory lane and my doodles! I had fun with those.
Laurie Stone
Bonnie, I did and loved your drawings. So pretty.
Diane
I love them! They summer here.
We have numerous lakes in our little town and the flocks love them. The paths that surround said lakes are usually ‘Caution: Droppings’ zones. But we bike around them singing “Watch the little goose poops. You’re gonna see them a lot!” (Credit to the Beach Boys: Little Deuce Coupe)
Astonishing that they are still ‘gathering’ to head south in late November, months after winter has arrived physically if not officially.
Laurie Stone
Diane, I heard them the other morning and I was so happy. For Connecticut, spring is on its way, after such a hard winter. Love the “Little Goose Poops.” Laughing.
Rena
I love to watch them too. I use to see a lot more when I lived in KY, but every once in a while they will fly over here.
Laurie Stone
Rena, I heard them the other morning and was so happy. Funny, the things we notice as adults, we never notice (or care about) as kids.