EPISODE 295 “HONK! HONK! WE ARE BACK!”… our two wild Canada geese landed on the pond March 25, 2021
alan skeoch
March 27, 2021
Today….March 27, 2021, the ponds are dark and grey and all around the ponds is black and brown. The ice still is present but
melting fast. In a month the whole landscape will change. The Caanads Geese love this time of year. They feel safe
and get ready for family time.
They arrived while I was rolling barrels into the barn. They knew I was concentrating on the barrels and not the sky so
they flew lower and honked. HONK! HONK! Then flew lower still with flaps down, like huge747’s they did a smooth pond landing in tandem.
Our Canada geese have arrived as they do every year. The same pair for they mate for life.
NESTING IS A SEMI SECRET TIME OF YEAR
We see them more in the sky than in the pond. Somehow they manage to flatten themselves and meld into the
pond scrub bushes and patches of old plants that are now black and grey just like them. On some occasions
we have found their nesting sites … more by accident than design. Procreation among Canada Geese is much
like human procreation. It is a private event….hidden from sight.
Actually they get quite angry when we circle the big pond. One will take off and circle overhead like
some kind of fighter aircraft looking for an enemy to strafe. And, once found, the enemy is strafed with Canada Goose
words…Honking frenetically. Telling us to “Get the hell back to the house or to the barn or to the road” From the closing
days of March to mid April this is no longer our pond. It is theirs. We know that. The dog Woody knows that and
even when he detects the nest he stays clear. He never bothers the lovers.
When the eggs hatch and are mobile, mom and pop…goose and gander…change their behaviour. They show off
their progeny. Strut around the ponds…waddle around the daffodils with those little balls of fluff tucked close behind
them. They show us what has happened.
The showing off phase is short. Once they do the proud thing for a couple of days they just disappear. I have
no idea where they go with those little balls of fluff. They must have another pond somewhere close by because they
disappear long before the goslings are ready to fly.
One reason for their departure makes himself or herself known to us in late April or May might
be the reason our geese do not stay around. We have always had a big snapping turtle in the pond….with
a moss covered casing as big as a Thanksgiving dinner plate. The big snapper is a rather omnivorous
fellow. Eats just about everything from pond weeds, to carrion to little baby geese. Mom and pop must
know that. So our ponds…we have four of them covering out 20% of our farm…our ponds are wetlands
supporting all kinds of wild life. And each creature has a special time.
Right now, however, the ponds belong to our Canada geese.
I have stopped rolling my barrels today.
I looked up from my labour as the geese lowered their landing gear and settled on the pond surface so gently that
there was hardly a ripple. Why so quiet on landing? In such contrast to their behaviour above my head?
You guessed it. They do not want the big snapper to wake up too early.
alan skeoch
March 26, 2021
