A controversial waterbird but a very good parent

A week or so on a tour around the countryside, a friend and I had stopped to visit a First Nations' craft outlet nearby. In front of the building was a pond and a swamp. On the pond, unbeknownst to me, was a family of Canada geese. Five or six goslings, mother and father.

As we returned to the car the family was climbing out of one pond and heading across the driveway to a larger more secluded one. I grabbed my camera.

The sun was beaming into my eyes and I failed to catch the goslings being herded by mother with her neck outstretched, encouraging the fastest scuttle the babes could manage. Dad hung back marching with head held high, determined step and not about to let any mere photographer get close for a really good picture.

I've come close to being bitten by a goose and also herded away from cygnets by a very threatening mute swan... I wasn't about to challenge this protective father.

Despite their being opportunistic creatures, living by design and choice in many cases near or in cities and towns, making park river banks and lakeside beaches messy and unpleasant, there is something about Canada geese that I love.

Maybe it's because underneath our conservative polite facade, many Canadians are similar to these creatures: opportunistic, scavenging, messy, often dangerous to small animals or children? Or is it that they signal the changing seasons, flying in huge v-wedges north and south calling to each other?

The romantic in me thinks of tall pines, rocky shores of the Canadian shield, pristine blue water, clean air, gentle breezes, the wildness of much of our country when I hear them calling - even when they just move from one side of a small pond to another. A Canada that is rapidly disappearing except in remote areas, a Canada of which I've explored much, and love each part.

And so I love these big birds.

Is there something that reminds you of the ideals (ones that mean something to you) of your country? Whether its Canada, the US, Russia, somewhere in Asia or the Pacific I'm pretty sure that many citizens have their dream spots and reminders of them. Interesting what triggers these feelings, memories and dreams.

On the move

Yesterday I had to go to town. It's been raining for several days and we received a huge dump of hail as well during Hurricane Sandy. Water water everywhere! If you look closely at this photo on the left side midway in the river you'll see a stretch of green - that is where the river bank was a couple of weeks ago. The river two weeks or more ago had been down by at least a foot and a half.

What drew my attention was the huge flock of Canada Geese. This is a staging area for geese and many water birds.  There are usually a few geese and ducks around, but yesterday there were a lot more. I had to turn around and stop to get this group of video and photos... enjoy!

I was fascinated with the geese, with the rising water, with the changes that a huge storm can make- its effects even at its fringes.

Doesn't it feel wet, cold, but busy and full of life?

So different from recent images of the Atlantic east coast, which are evidence of Nature's strength. May those who have lost so much in this past few days caused by this enormous storm, be helped in all the ways they need. May those scenes of destruction become scenes like these instead - very soon: life continuing despite all.

Wonder where the winter is?

It was unusually warm, the sun high in the sky, but it was just a few days ago, late November. The grass should be covered with snow, or at least brown and brittle. And these geese should be floating in the middle of the river or standing on ice, not standing on mudflats basking in the sun.

The weather has been strange... but a friend told me this afternoon, that on this day in 1979 it was in the mid-60s. He said yes climate change is affecting everything, but this kind of aberrant weather isn't completely unusual.

"We had no winter that year," he commented, "but in 1978 it was a doozy!"

So I wondered what it means for this year? I've seen flocks of robins, blue jays, crows, all joining the geese and heading south.  There are tons of berries on the mountain ash, the apple trees had a heavy crop this summer and pine trees? Cones a-plenty. Lots of food around. But high up. Squirrels' nests are high in the trees.

Sometimes "old tyme almanacs" say that these kinds of things predict a mild but very snowy winter - with deep snow, making it difficult for some creatures to get food...interesting thought. Were the almanacs saying that would happen this year?

The geese eventually joined the rest of the flock and headed in a very casual manner out to the middle of the river - not worried that I might follow with my camera, but not staying close either. They are among a very large number of geese who hang around for the winter at this particular bend in the river, since it seldom freezes over completely and they can dive for food in comfort, specially if its going to be a mild winter.

They seem in no hurry to go anywhere. Close to 200 geese, maybe more, stay in this area when the wind is high and the nearby lake is too difficult to mine for minnows, snails and any other food geese eat. They also feed on green grass. There's plenty of that here for now.

Do they know something we humans don't, do you think?

Do you speculate on what kind of winter we might have in Central Ontario this year? Is it climate change or just an aberrant bit of weather? I guess we'll know in hind sight one day. But climate change continues to concern me and many others. We do need to do something globally, work together to help this old planet stabilize and recover from all the mistakes we've made as the most dominant species.

Please consider helping an organization that works for ecological sustainability this holiday season. Or help an animal rescue organization. Both are causes dear to my heart and so I feel it important to ask for help for them.

Morning walk

This morning I'm lazy, and was looking through my photographs when I remembered this beauty from a friend who lives near the Niagara Escarpment near Hamilton.

He told me that he was driving to work one day and saw the family out taking the 12 kids for a walk. Silhouetted against the quarry in the background, he caught the morning sun on their backs and the line-up as they marched along.

Not only was he fortunate in catching this beautiful picture - but we are as well for his kind sharing.

Canada geese are prolific, they are messy eaters, making lawns and grassy areas in parks unpleasant places to play, walk and picnic. But man oh man - this shot - it's beautiful and shows me the wonder of nature... the ever-alert parents carefully guarding the goslings as they march down to the lake in the quarry. Likely this is the first time away from the nest for those little guys.

So for today - the rain will wash away most of the mess and mother nature will likely clean up what the park rangers leave behind.

And we can enjoy this super photograph (thank you to my friend who allows me to post such lovely photos from him) and the thoughts that all nature has its good and bad, positive and negative - when it's balanced all is right with the world.

May you find balance and beauty in your life today.

A morning walk

Out for a morning stroll, this is a common sight in many parts of the world.

Lovely photographs from my friend Sue who took these, I think, at a small lake in front of her home.

Canada geese have multiplied to the point that many think they are a nuisance. They certainly can be messy and dirty since they pluck grubs from lawns and eat mown grass... not the long stuff. But there is still something very charming about watching them taking new goslings off the nest and into the water. The male always stands guard - you can see he's got his eye on the camera and doesn't want anyone attacking.

Two days ago as I drove along a country road through a marsh, a male threatened me, hissing and flapping his wings as the female carefully moved off her nest which had been built of grasses a foot from the edge of the road, when the water was nearly reaching it. Now the nest is five feet from water's edge as the river has receded, but Dad threatens every car and truck that drives past. Fortunately the road is pretty rutted and the geese will likely be able to hatch the eggs and move to a safer spot in a bit

Happy spring! And thanks Sue for contributing such great photographs to my morning blog.

It's that time of year

We had snow the other day - just a bit on my deck, enough to leave its imprint, but about an inch up on top of the "mountain." It's that time of year.

The geese have been flying south regularly - the true migrants up high, in huge vees, like the one here, with only the occasional call. The southern Ontario group which a biologist friend of mine calls the Ontario residents, and comprises at least 50,000 Canada geese, flies from farmers' fields to the river, to a local pond, out to the lake and back. They have a set routine it seems and hang about wherever there is open water.

Of  late Georgian Bay - which used to freeze solid in this part of the Bay, and right around the whole south end up through the east side and north around Manitoulin - doesn't do that anymore - we have open water pretty much year round. Global warming we've been told. That the waters are receding and the Bay is becoming quite shallow revealing all kinds of rocks and shoals fascinates and sort of alarms me. I've heard that it's because they dredged Lake St. Clair on the Detroit River and made a huge hole for the water to spill into. I've heard that the US has an agreement to divert water from the Great Lakes into the Mississippi River - an agreement that has stood since the late 1800s. I've heard that a sink hole that is bottomless has developed in the lakes. And I've also heard that its part of a natural cycle. Hmmm. Who/what to believe?

Whatever it is - in the fall the geese flying in formation signal - to me - the end of summer and the approach of Jack Frost. Last year we didn't get any kind of snow other than a dusting until mid-November and then we got three feet over a couple of days. The geese remind me to stock up, bring in the wood for my woodstove, get some water into big jugs in case of a power failure and make sure the leaks around the windows are sealed.

And the geese also remind me, with their haunting cries, that they are traveling - I wonder where they go - those that fly so high up and hardly utter a sound? They catch wind currents also heading south and often hardly seem to have to move their wings. That ignites my wanderlust. It also makes me wonder what others think or feel when they see a flock of high flying geese. Do they see them at all? Do they wonder where they are going too?

Lots to think about on a gray fall morning.