SWANS, GEESE AND THE FULL MOON

      I enjoyed watching the loose flocks of tundra swans and Canada geese on the main lake of Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania during the late afternoon of January 28, 2021.  The swans were constantly "woo-hooing" and the geese were honking continually.  Both those wildlife sounds are pleasant to hear.  

     It was a clear afternoon that day, with not a cloud in the beautiful blue sky.  The sunset was lovely, but the temperature was in the low thirties, with a strong wind, making an unpleasant chill factor.  But the stately swans and geese, seemingly, were not bothered at all by the weather as they bobbed on wind-driven waves.  Ducks, geese and swans all have layers of feathers that shed cold, wind and weather quite well.

     While watching the flocks of vocalizing swans and Canadas that were bathed in the sunset, I saw the full moon rise above the horizon about 5:20 P M.  It was large and pale-orange at first; truly striking and beautiful.  And it was neat to see lines of swans and geese swimming smoothly through the broad, sparkling swath of reflected moonlight on the wind-ruffled water.

     About 5:45 P M, a few thousand bugling snow geese returned to that human-made impoundment after feeding on corn kernels in nearby harvested corn fields.  That mass of clamoring snow geese swirled a few times over the lake, passing before the sunset to the west and the rising moon to the east with each sweep low over the water.  Finally, smaller group after group of snow geese, each one in turn, descended gracefully, like parachutes, to the impoundment, many of them landing on the path of moonlight on the choppy water. 

     That noisy gathering of snow geese on the water looked like snow fell on that part of the lake.  And, slowly, the snow geese swam toward the north shore of the impoundment where most of the swans and Canada geese were floating on water that was protected by a woodland.  The many trees there partially blocked the strong north wind, making the water more docile and comfortable to spend the night on.  

     There the tundra swans, Canada geese and snow geese will spend at least part of the night on the frigid water and basking in cold moonlight.  The whiteness of the swans and snow geese, enhanced by the moonlight, will make them stand out under the moonlit and starlit, cold, windy night.

     The swans, geese, sunset and moon all made a pretty, inspiring evening at Middle Creek's lake.  Lovely scenes like this happen all the time, most everywhere on Earth.  God is still in charge!          

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