Geese

Geese:

perhaps with the exception of squirrels and robins, I most often see geese on my morning walks, they will be spread out from the pond and occupying small fields and lawns, or sometimes in a short flight above my house as they travel between the various nearby ponds. When I was a kid they were less frequent visitors, more true in their migrations and traveling great distances between their seasonal homes. I loved hearing their honking communication and catching sight of their V-formation inflight. For me this was a true touch of wildlife, a sign of deep wilderness, as they were long distance travelers, not meant to stay too near my suburban home for any length of time.

it was a thrill to hear them or glimpse them overhead…

with my own my own wild streak being active in imagination.

yet over the years they have made my neighborhood their home, some only migrating short distances to escape the heat of summer or the colder days when the pond might freeze. I can count on seeing them daily, their my geese now, part of my home, belonging to my heart. What I’ve read is that there are two distinct types of geese here, true migratory birds that overwinter between their long distance flights, and year round residents that have made this area their home for many generations. They are ancestors of geese from a reintroduction program dating back decades to a…