Then There Were....

The picture is certainly not a goose but it is one of the many birds that visits nightly since the first day of spring. And he/she has a repertoire of bird calls rivaling the libraries at the Audubon Society. This is of course a mockingbird. Truth be told, although I understand that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird, after three straight nights of his incessant imitations, the sentiment advised against in the saying is foremost in my mind. Yes a true harbinger of spring. Between the mockingbird's routine and the bull frog, the lovesick geese and the persnickety ducks, the blackbird's snappy call and the loud and thoroughly piercing screams of kids, spring just seems like boot camp for summer. Sensory overload.

Hannah finally sprang forth with 10 eggs which were all destroyed within 36 hours by heaven knows what. The family comes by once in awhile but steer clear mostly. Archie is the present goose gone wild in protecting Edith who is heavy with eggs still and will soon be nesting. The kids in the neighborhood are mean little sons of guns and found some of the eggs from Hannah's nest. They immediately started throwing the eggs at
Archie who is ready to stroke out as it is. They tease him unmercifully. I am one of the only humans he does not get mad at.

The Canada geese are all still mating and the process obviously takes a bit of time and energy spent on flapping wings and squawking in various odd decibels. Most everyone now is into territorial defense and in the deep still of the night, God help the trespasser and those of us who would like to sleep.

The weather has been off the wall here first cold then hot then cold. We did finally receive a start to drought relief by accumulating over 6 inches in less than 48 hours. Of course the ground could not absorb easily . dry and rock hard as it was, so flooding resulted. Odd thing about water birds is that during the height of thunderstorms they huddle together in the middle of the lake. No shelter seeking for these guys. I always marvel at this and wonder what keeps them from attracting lightening hits.

Very soon within the next two months, we will have new goslings and ducklings everywhere and then the fun changes to families prancing around with their new ones. Not unlike we do with new babies. I look forward to that time with great anticipation. At present we only have two white geese which are Franklin and his little Frank which I believe is really a little Francine on closer exam. So maybe more white geese are in the offing. Pictures will indeed follow the happy events.


Until next time.