Well,
the spring or vernal equinox has come and gone again, and with it, Mother
Nature has already brought some surprises.
It
seems that our old friends, the Canada Geese, have been moving around the
continent a little earlier than usual, this year, leaving places where people
would expect to see them for awhile yet and turning up in areas where people
would expect for a while.
I’ve
heard and seen them honking overhead a few times already. One day, as a
surprise snow flurry covered us all over, I could hear them outside, somewhere,
honking frantically at each other. I had to wonder what they were saying to
each other. Were they saying “See? I told you it was too early to come back,
yet!” Or perhaps they were singing “Snow! Lovely, white fluffy snow!” Or
perhaps they were just laughing at the absurdity of it all.
Anyone
out there speak fluent goose?
But my
biggest surprise came last weekend. I decided to take a stroll down to the
local pond, since it was such a lovely day. Although we hadn’t much snow, the
lake was still mostly frozen, with some liquid around the edges. However, it’s
way too early for the pond to be awake with spring life, yet. Not too many eggs
could survive when it’s this chilly. Except, perhaps, the penguin variety. But
we haven’t any of those in our local park.
Anyhow,
I peered over the railing onto the ice and what do you believe I saw?
Four
geese wandering around on the ice!
They
appeared to be two “married” couples. Two were not far from me, and the others
were nearly on the other side of the lake. The walked slowly around, their feet
making a kind of squishing sound on the surface of the ice with each step. The
larger of each couple, whom I presume to have been the men, honked quietly to
each other while the women picked at the ice with their beaks.
Then,
much to my surprise, one of the ladies sat right down, stuck her face under her
wing and went to sleep! The last time you were overcome with the desire for a
snooze, was hard cold ice your first choice of bedding? I don’t know how she
could have been comfortable like that! Yet she snoozed peacefully.
After a
while, the male geese began honking a bit louder, and louder, and then the one
closest to me spread his wings and stretched out his neck and started advancing
on the other guy across the pond. They were both now honking quite loudly and
suddenly my guy took off running toward his neighbor and the other guy began
flapping, too. Both took off and soared only about four feet off the ice in
pursuit for only a couple of moments, and they landed further up the pond.
It was
quite a site to see them trying to land on the slick ice, their wings flapping
wildly, their little webbed feet flailing wildly for firmness. Yet both landed
without an issue.
Then my
guy game back to his wife and everyone went back to snoozing, pecking the ice
and honking softly.
And so,
it’s spring at last, and Mother Nature is already at work!
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