Thursday, September 16, 2010

Honk, Honk! Canadian Geese Comin' Thru!

Yesterday a little after noon, three big wild Canadian Geese circled our pond a couple of times, decided it was okay to stop, and dropped in for a visit.

My pictures aren't good, I know, but keep in mind I was hanging out of hubby's office window and the geese were a mile and a half away. (Not really. I exaggerate.)

I wonder why there were three of them? Geese mate for life so you usually see an even number of them together. Unless this was a mom and pop with a single offspring from this year?

When our domestic Shetland geese spotted them, they were not very welcoming and/or friendly. They jumped into the pond with them and set up a bit of a kafuffle which didn't seem to faze the wild geese to any degree at all so our domestic flock backed off feigning no loss of dignity.

The Canadian honkers didn't seem too skittish. We drove up and down the driveway that goes by the pond a couple of times and hubby even walked near the pond once with the dog without frightened them away.

But when my husband went out at dusk to lock up our poultry for the night, the wild geese took one look at him and seemed to say, "Don't even THINK about locking us up!", took flight and that's the last we've seen of them.

I hope they tell all their friends our pond is a good place to visit for a little rest.

9 comments:

Erin said...

Yes, maybe it's an "adult child" who has moved back home, or an elder that has moved back in, LOL!

Mama Pea said...

Erin - Ha! You're probably right. The kid was supposed to go off to college this fall, but at the last minute changed his mind and decided to stay home "to find himself." Mom and Pop are not happy. (They say it's wrong to anthropomorphize, but ain't it fun??)

Conny said...

This afternoon I noticed the return of the geese to our work pond. Yes, we have a pond of sorts at work - it's one of those one foot deep duck ponds. 'supposed to make us feel like we're working next to a park, but in reality it's 100 yards away from the freeway.

The honk of Canadian Geese always makes me feel happy - reminds me of when I lived in Minnesota.

Susan said...

A sure sign that summer has gone and fall is here. I love to hear them overhead. I have a big field next to me and they often land there. I love to hear them.

Mama Pea said...

Conny - Come back to Minnesota! It's a great place to be.

In the fall or spring whenever my husband hears the honking of geese overhead, he always drops whatever he's doing and stands transfixed as they go over. They are beautiful.

Susan - At our previous piece of property they would land in our mowed hay fields, especially in the fall, and graze and rest for the night. We were always happy to see them.

Jenyfer Matthews said...

I used to work at a place in Ohio that had a large ornamental pond in the front and you would not believe the trouble they went to to discourage the geese from stopping by for a visit. It wasn't the geese themselves that were the problem, it was what they left behind. Piles and piles of it.

A few now and again might not be a big deal, but I wouldn't want them to spread the word!

Mama Pea said...

Jen - Whoops. You are so right. Especially with our pond at such a low water level right now, filling it up with . . . uh-um-er, fertilizer from quantities of resting wild geese would NOT be a good idea.

Mama Pea said...

Jen - Whoops. You are so right. Especially with our pond at such a low water level right now, filling it up with . . . uh-um-er, fertilizer from quantities of resting wild geese would NOT be a good idea.

Mama Pea said...

Jen - Whoops. You are so right. Especially with our pond at such a low water level right now, filling it up with . . . uh-um-er, fertilizer from quantities of resting wild geese would NOT be a good idea.