It’s gosling season #phenology

The water is very high in theSunrise River pools along highway 36 in the Carlos Avery Wildlife Management Area [WMA]. In fact, it’s high enough that I wouldn’t be surprised if some waterfowl nests have been flooded. I certainly hope that any flooding occurred after the eggs hatched and the ducklings and goslings and cygnets could paddle to some safe location.

Canada goose with goslings

Photo by J. Harrington

There are several small ponds away from the main flow of the river and its surrounding marshes. One of these ponds is in the front yard of a house located just beyond the WMA boundaries and almost each and every year we see at least one pair of Canada geese raising a brood of goslings. This year is no exception. Over the next few months, the goslings will grow and by (late) August will be testing their flight feathers in practice for a migration to warmer climes.

While driving through the WMA today we noticed one pair of swans. At least we presume it was a pair and that they’re raising a family somewhere in the nearby marshes. I don’t recall seeing any swan families in the many years we’ve lived here. That makes me think swans tend toward nesting in more remote areas than geese or ducks. Maybe one day soon I should go and spend some time looking around more carefully than it’s safe to do on a drive through. That makes a nice addition to my “To Do” list.

Wild Geese

by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

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