{"id":8344,"date":"2021-03-26T23:16:01","date_gmt":"2021-03-27T03:16:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=8344"},"modified":"2021-04-15T06:43:23","modified_gmt":"2021-04-15T10:43:23","slug":"episode-295-honk-honk-we-are-back-our-two-wild-geese-came-in-for-a-landing-march-25-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=8344","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 295 “HONK! HONK! WE ARE BACK!” our two wild geese came in for a landing March 25, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EPISODE 295   “HONK! HONK! WE ARE BACK!\u201d… our two wild Canada geese landed on the pond March 25, 2021<\/div>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
March 27, 2021<\/div>\n

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Today\u2026.March 27, 2021, the ponds are dark and grey and all around the ponds is black and brown.  The ice still is present but<\/div>\n
melting fast.  In a  month the whole landscape will change.  The Caanads Geese love this time of year.  They feel safe<\/div>\n
and get ready for family time.<\/div>\n

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They arrived while I was rolling barrels  into the barn.  They knew I was  concentrating on the barrels and not the sky so<\/div>\n
they flew lower and  honked. HONK! HONK!  Then flew lower still with flaps down, like  huge747\u2019s they did a smooth pond  landing in tandem.<\/div>\n
Our Canada geese have arrived as they do every year.  The same pair for they mate for life.<\/div>\n

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NESTING IS A SEMI SECRET TIME OF YEAR<\/div>\n

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We see them more in the sky than in the pond.  Somehow they manage to flatten themselves and meld into the <\/div>\n
pond scrub bushes and patches of old plants that are now black and grey just like them.  On some occasions<\/div>\n
we have found their nesting sites \u2026 more  by accident than  design.   Procreation among Canada Geese is much<\/div>\n
like human procreation.  It is a private event\u2026.hidden from sight.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Actually they get quite angry when we circle the big pond.  One will take off and circle overhead like<\/div>\n
some kind of fighter aircraft looking for an enemy to strafe.  And, once found, the enemy is strafed with Canada Goose<\/div>\n
words\u2026Honking frenetically.   Telling us to \u201cGet the hell back to the house or to the barn or to the road\u201d  From the closing<\/div>\n
days of March to mid April this is no longer our pond.  It is theirs.  We know that.  The dog Woody knows that and<\/div>\n
even when he detects the nest he stays clear.  He never bothers the lovers.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
When the eggs hatch and are mobile,  mom and pop\u2026goose and  gander\u2026change their behaviour.  They show off<\/div>\n
their progeny.  Strut around the ponds\u2026waddle around the daffodils with those little balls of fluff tucked close behind<\/div>\n
them.  They show us what has happened.  <\/div>\n

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The showing off phase is short.  Once they do the proud thing for a couple of days they just disappear.  I have<\/div>\n
no idea where they go with those little balls of fluff.  They must have another pond somewhere close by because they<\/div>\n
disappear long before the goslings are ready to fly.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
One reason for their departure makes himself or herself known to us in late April or May might<\/div>\n
be the reason our geese do not stay around.  We have always had a  big snapping turtle in the pond\u2026.with<\/div>\n
a moss covered casing as big as a Thanksgiving dinner plate.  The big snapper is a rather omnivorous<\/div>\n
fellow.  Eats just about everything from pond weeds, to carrion to little baby geese.  Mom and pop must<\/div>\n
know that.   So our ponds\u2026we have four of them covering out 20% of our farm\u2026our ponds are  wetlands<\/div>\n
supporting all kinds of wild life.   And  each creature has a special  time.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Right now, however, the ponds belong to our  Canada geese.  <\/div>\n

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I have stopped rolling my barrels today.<\/div>\n
I looked up from my labour as the geese lowered their landing gear and settled on the pond surface so gently that <\/div>\n
there was hardly a ripple.  Why so quiet on landing?  In such contrast to their behaviour above my head?<\/div>\n
You guessed it.   They do not want the big snapper to wake up too early.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
March 26, 2021<\/div>\n

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EPISODE 295   “HONK! HONK! WE ARE BACK!\u201d… our two wild Canada geese landed on the pond March 25, 2021 alan skeoch March 27, 2021 Today\u2026.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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8344\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}