Wednesday at lunch I went to a pond near my

office. Last week it was ice covered, now it

has melted and the mallards and geese are

enjoying it, which involved chasing each other.

The pond is fed by pumps that

are not actually turned on until May to

discourage nesting. Either the policy has

changed or I think this may be melt water,

we have had a lot of snow this year.

I suspect someone has already been
feeding them, they get pretty chummy.

"When the geese come back in the Spring
And they learn that their friend has gone,
I wonder will they take to wing
And try to follow him on?"

 

"There were hunters wherever they flew,
And snares for the careless wing.
Now, they'll grieve for the friend they knew
When the birds come back in the Spring."

both verses from a

Tribute to Jack Miner
                  by Edgar A. Guest

 While Canadian Geese are not popular I was

raised in Southern Ontario and made many trips
to the Jack Miner Bird Sanctuary.  A hunter turned

conservationlist he worked a great deal with

Canadian Geese and was nicknamed Wild Goose

Jack. Some claim he was actually so successful

in attracting geese to his property that he

changed the flight paths of the migrating geese.