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There was a huge flock of Canadian geese out on the front lawn at work today. They were gathered in several small knots, and after observing them all day I realized there were two distinct flocks. The two flocks didn't seem to get along very well, and they spent most of the afternoon hissing and making low-necked runs at each other menacingly.

I loosely monitored them throughout the afternoon as they meandered across the grass. They would graze for a few hours before working their way over to the driveway, where a ditch collects muddy, oily water. There they would drink for a few minutes, blocking the driveway for the buses and covering the pavement with goose poop. Then the flocks would wander back into the grass to eat again.

My dad is a fairly avid bird-watcher, and he reads a few of the birding Usenet groups. He told me once that some birders call Canadian geese "sky-carp," mostly because they're "useless" birds. The geese have become pests in this area, gumming up golf course greens with their poop, hogging lakes at parks, biting children, fouling streams... I think they're protected species, so you can't just go out and shoot them. People have devised strange ways of scaring them off, but the geese usually get used to whatever the scare tactic is. They're hard to get rid of.

The geese I saw today weren't setting up shop. They were just making a stopover on wherever they're on their way to, resting up and getting a bite to eat. Still, they did make a bit of a mess in the grass and the drive.

Personally, I don't mind Canadian geese. (Or, as they're correctly called: Canada geese.) I think they're pretty neat, as we have so few wild, large birds in this area. It's really fun in the early summer to see the baby goslings fumbling about in the water after their parents.

As the sun was just setting, I was closing up the garage for the night. I rounded the corner of the garage in time to see the first flock fly out over the driveway. They honked encouragingly at each other, forming up into a loose V as they circled north and vanished behind the trees.

(North??)

After I lost sight of the first flock, I looked down at the second group. I noticed that they were all pointing exactly the same way, and had their heads up at attention. During the day they had been pointed any which way as they grazed, and they would take turns watching out for danger. Now, however, they all had their noses to the wind.

I stood there for about five minutes, watching the geese stand stock-still. It was like they were waiting for some cue, some signal that I knew I would miss. One by one they lifted to their toes and flapped their wings, working out their muscles. Each time I expected them to spring into the air, but they only settled back and folded their wings.

Suddenly, one goose in the back of the flock started running forward. As he passed his friends, they started running too, until the entire flock was running and flapping... And lifting off into the air.

I love watching birds fly. Song birds move to quickly and are too small to observe in any great detail, but large birds like Canadian geese are easy to watch. It takes them such a huge effort to get airborne, it's a wonder they bother at all.

The geese flew out over the driveway, circled north, and vanished where I had lost sight of the first flock.