Geese on the move

Mar. 19 9:50AM 35F

Spring is still missing in action but there's still activity around. On my final approach to the mandala, I chase off two white tailed deer. Soon after sitting, I hear the honking of Canada geese (Branta canadensis) very high overhead and in two V formations. Then a short while later, I hear more. It takes me a moment to find them in the sky through the dormant canopy, even higher and in greater numbers, perhaps a total of 120. All of these are heading NE, heading for summer. Maybe, just maybe spring is on the way. Temperatures haven't suggested as much but I'd like to think that these geese know something we don't.

Now there's the nasal honking much closer, from the other side of the stream approximately 25m away. Periodic brash honks let me know she's still there. There's more upstream calling to two more flying just over the forest canopy. These land and join the one across the stream. I try to spy on them but they're wise to my movements and leave a sentry directly across the stream from me. This seems a strange place to see the geese - in a forested area without much open water. The Canada goose has gotten a lot of attention it seems for so-called nuisance behavior in human environments. I prefer to view these geese with respect, the same as I would deer, rats, cockroaches, seagulls, and more. These animals, while often detested by humans, have thrived in the human environment. So, as a biologist, I respect them from an evolutionary perspective. They're adapted to our environment while too many other species are not and their population numbers show a declining long-term trend, a part of the on-going biodiversity crisis. Canada geese demonstrate the opposite pattern. Once on the brink of extinction, the population has impressively rebounded and found abundant throughout the continent, apparently largely due to increasing number and success of resident populations. These thrive in the human landscape including agricultural habitats, urban parks, and suburban lawns. Just like the ~9 or so hanging out in the lawn on campus, they're perhaps best known for their trail of poop and their defensive nature that doesn't seem too afraid or humans. So, respect the goose. They're doing fine despite us.

Besides the geese, it's a relatively quiet morning in the forest with little anthropogenic noise. I hear Carolina chickadee-dee-dee-dees, plus limited others that my untrained ear can't identify. There's a woodpecker working on a distant bole, perhaps another EAB-infested ash. There are whistles too, which remind me of spring peepers. The sky is bright blue, nothing to impede the sun. It feels like perhaps the calm before the storm, a gentle late winter day before winter's last gasp with a forecasted Nor'easter approaching tonight and students undoubtedly hoping for a snow day tomorrow as a chance to recover from spring break. The mandala gives hints of spring, it's just a bit greener with new grass poking through leaf detritus, mostly Poa pratensis with it's canoe-shaped blades. I also note multiflora rose leaves unfurling amidst the duff.

References for Canada geese:

Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Where Did All Those Canada Geese in Town Come From?