The Goose, and hummingbird, and robin, and bald eagle, and songbird, and whooping crane and monarch butterfly report

A few weeks ago I signed up with a special website to get a weekly monarch migration e-mail. It's a little geeky, but I'm truly fascinated by the Monarch butterfly. Apparently the people assumed that just because I'm fascinated by Monarch migration patterns, naturally I 'd be interested in the migration pattern of every migrating creature on planet earth. I've been receiving a plethora of migration reports. I get updates on the migration journey's of my buds the Canadian geese, (they're probably heading to Winona Lake right now and will stick around until the lake freezes over, I don't need a migration report to tell me that:) hummingbirds, American Robins, Bald Eagle's, songbirds and the whooping crane. I still haven't figured out what the heck a whooping crane is!! But if you have any desire to know how their migrating is going, I can tell you cause I am officially THEE migration expert:)

"Gooses in the Mist" - The Goose Report Feb'07

Tom, Dick and Harry and the rest of the gang have returned. When the Lake froze over at the beginning of February, they disappeared. It's been deadly silent at night. But because the Lake is now thawing due to the warmer weather, they are back and as loud as ever. I have to be honest and say that I definitely did miss them. It was nice to open the kitchen blinds and see our fine feathery Canadian friends waddling through the thick fog of this morning. When I got in my car to head to the office a few of them flew overhead. Have you ever sat and listened to the sound of geese fly? As they fly the flapping of their wings makes a really pretty sound. It's too bad that in most cases their sqwaky annoying honking overpowers the beautiful hum that comes from their wings.

The Goose Report - Jan'07

It appears as though Tom, Dick and Harry have returned to their regular attempts of trying to get a glimpse of "the diva" and her comrades here in Winona Lake. Only now they've brought with them a bunch of other peepers . . . . Well at least that's what I thought last night at 2am when I heard the extremely loud chorus of honking outside of my window.

Since returning to Winona Lake after Christmas break I've rarely heard the geese outside my window. There has been the occasional honk, but other than that it's been rather quiet and peaceful. I assumed that the nocturnal nuts finally decided to fly south when they mistakenly thought that I had left Winona Lake for good. Really what would be the point in staying here if the Canadian diva was not around? :) I should have known better!! It appears as though those geese went out and told all of their Canadian friends that I was here and now there are thousands of them clamoring over one another trying to get my attention so that I will open up my curtains and make a rare appearance. . . . . .

When I opened the kitchen blinds this morning I was thinking that I may be wrong about the peepers. It appears as though the lake froze over last night and in a panic the entire goose community of Indiana has migrated to the canal in front of our house - (which is where my bedroom faces). Soo all that honking was them crying, "oh no what are we going to do? The lake is frozen!!!!"

(this is Winona Lake - mostly frozen)

I went out this morning before work and there were literally 200 or so Canadian Geese on our front lawn jumping in and out of the canal, which appeared to be steaming hot.
And as I approached, one amongst the gaggle saw that I was standing there and told the others. It was hilarious, all 200 of them started honking and flew out to the middle of the lake. What a sight! More so what a sound!! It was the loudest goose honking chorus that I had ever heard!!! And it got louder as they made their way to the centre of the lake. The echo was so loud that I'm sure that the entire state of Indiana heard them!! (I'm hoping that none of my neighbours discover that I was the one out there taunting them:)

Oh those Geese!! Trying to act all innocent like that. Pretending to be afraid of me. Meanwhile they were dying inside cause I was so close. I bet they gathered in the centre of Winona Lake after flying off like that and excitedly said things like "Did you see her?" and "oooo she's more radiant than I ever could have imagined!"

They don't know that I'm on to them and their sneaky little ploys to see "the Diva". I bet that they somehow arranged to have the lake freeze over like that so that I'd think that they are innocent. . . nice try Tom, Dick and Harry - nice try!

My Fellow Canadians

So it appears as though the only other Canadians around here in Winona Lake are the Canadian geese that hang out down by the lake, which also happens to be where many of us at Cpaf live too.

I didn't know this until I got here, but it appears as though Canada Geese do not sleep at night!!! We can hear them at all hours of the night honking away outside of our windows. As much as I'm glad that there are other Canadians here, I have to be honest and say that by 3:21 last night I was officially ready to go out there and wring their little Canadian necks. The constant sqwaky honking is severely annoying.

I told the gals that the only logical explanation for the constant ruckus, is that those geese are up at night trying with all their might to peep in our windows. . . . no doubt they are trying to get a glimpse of their fellow Canadian, "the diva":) So, we have officially named those nocturnal geese down at the lodge. We now refer to them as "the peeping geese" or more directly "Tom”, “Dick” and “Harry." Unfortunately those geese are giving Canadians a bit of a bad reputation, but really who can blame them? If I was living in such close proximity to a diva like me and my other sistah's down at the lodge I would definitely stay up all night trying to catch a glimpse of us too:)