Sunday, April 10, 2011

The Migration End Game

They fly the great eastern flyway as if it were their own personal interstate, and it is.  Often in late March and early April there are huge flocks of them numbering in the hundreds returning from their wintering grounds in Chesapeake Bay and other areas.  The primeval urge to once again nest and raise a flock of goslings ever drives them onward until they reach their goal of returning to their place of hatching.
At times the flocks are smaller such as the two flocks in this photo.
They also may be in smaller numbers of four,
three,
or even a single goose wending its way across an unmarked path known only to itself.
It swings into a landing pattern and alights in a small body of water.  Finally the lone goose settles in for a bit of rest and preening of a misplaced feather or two.  It rests on a half submerged log in a beaver pond at the end of its journey.  The log was completely floating before the goose stepped onto it, but one goose-weight is enough to just submerge it.



The final photo shows the goose just before it climbed from the water.  The floating log is near it.  Look closer, and you’ll spot the muskrat in the lower right corner.

No comments:

Post a Comment