Photo © Copyright 2005 Michael Kinder. All rights reserved.

Canada Geese

While it seems like they just got here (and a few late stragglers are still arriving) the Canada Geese begin to grow restless in February. As the days lengthen and almost imperceptibly begin to grow warmer small flocks of Geese begin the return flight to their northern breeding grounds in Canada. But this is just the beginning of the migration so don't look for huge flocks darkening the skies with their characteristic vee formations. (In fact these first migrant departures are almost imperceptible and were it not for the work of dedicated ornithologists we wouldn't even know they were occurring.) These initial flocks are just moving north to the next open water and awaiting the spring thaw further north.

Offsite links:

• Kid-friendly Canada Goose page on Kid Zone
  
• Urban Canada Geese, posted by the Humane Society of the United States.
  
• Operation Migration's page, Our Work with Canada Geese. OM's guiding spirit is Walter Lishman, upon whose pioneering research the movie Fly Away Home was based.

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