THE GREAT GOOSE EXODUS

      Around 7:45 AM one day in mid-March some years ago, while driving my son a few miles on the Lititz Pike to work, I noticed flocks of Canada geese passing overhead and going north, flock after flock.  The day was cloudy, damp and cool, typical of March, and making me think of spring and ducks and geese.  After dropping off my son, I raced home, got my binoculars and stood in our backyard in Neffsville, Pennsylvania to watch for more  northbound V's and lines of Canada geese.  I was not disappointed because fast-moving flocks of magnificent geese were passing low over my neighborhood as soon as I was on our lawn.  It seemed that all the geese were honking at once.  I was thrilled to see them in big numbers, in flock after noisy flock after flock.

     Numbering in the thousands, gangs of Canadas poured over my neighborhood, one after another.  All those noisy gatherings were coming from the south and heading directly north.  It was if the whole Chesapeake Bay area, Delaware Bay area and the Delmarva Peninsula were emptying of Canada geese that morning.  And lucky for me, I happened to be in the right spot at the right time to witness that great, noisy goose exodus.  It was exciting!!     

     Perhaps they were going to Middle Creek Refuge, about twelve miles north of my house, or maybe their destination was the St. Lawrence River area, or lakes in Canada.  I didn't know, and I didn't care because of was enjoying the many goose gatherings flowing low over my lawn with me standing in it.

     I never saw that many Canada geese in flight at once before or after that March day.  Flocks of them kept coming toward me and passing over my neighborhood as if it were an aerial highway.  Group after group they came, with only a couple of minutes between each airborne flock, and I saw still more gatherings of elegant Canadas coming from behind.  I became more and more excited as time raced by and the constantly honking geese still kept coming, without a hint of dwindling numbers of gangs heading north over me.

     I stood on our lawn that morning from about 8:10 to around 10:45 AM, and watched those geese parade rapidly overhead.  Around 10:30, the gangs of Canadas became less and less frequent until I saw no more geese by 10:45.  I was relieved that they finally all flew by my unofficial observing station. 

     My theory about the great Canada goose exodus is that the majestic geese felt the tug of spring, as I did, and all of them left their wintering grounds on the  Delmarva Peninsula and the estuaries at once and flew directly north, which placed them over my neighborhood that year.  They all were headed north to their nesting territories, but weather farther north will stop them for a while.   

     It was very exciting to see those goose flights that day, low over my neighborhood, with me in the right place at the right time.  It's scenes like the goose exodus, and other lovely bits of nature that allow people to enjoy it.  And it helps us believe there is a God to have created all those natural wonders. 

       

          

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