Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Watching a V of geese flying north

When I stepped off the back porch this morning just after 5, I looked up and saw the sky was clear and the stars were shining, at least in the west, my direction of travel for the next 30 minutes or so to get to my day job. The ground was soggy for we had received a heavy rain overnight.
As I set my travel mug of coffee atop my car, I heard a goose in the sky to the South. I head a couple more calls. We have many resident Canada geese here, and I see them year-round at a couple of parks. Consequently, I didn't think much about it as I fumbled for my keys in my pocket with my right hand and hung onto my dinner bucket and Thermos full of coffee in my other.
Then, the goose conversation picked up and was coming in my direction. I looked up and a beautiful big V of geese glided north directly over me. The motion-activated porch light was still on, and the light from the two bulbs lit up the birds' undersides.
They weren't real high, well above the top of the persimmon tree, but not way up there in the darkness.
They made a beautiful sight, and in my morning prayer on the way to work, I thanked the Lord for the opportunity to see the birds, and I thanked Him for the seasons and His creation.
At work, I was telling some co-workers about the geese when Justin, who produces his own outdoors show for local television, said, "Did you notice that one side of the V was longer than the other?"
"Yeah, why is that?" I asked, expecting a semi-scientific answer from a man I consider an outdoors expert.
"Because one side has more geese in it than the other," he said, grinning.
I laughed. We all laughed and shook our heads. And it wasn't even April Fool's Day.

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