Spring is just busing out all over here in Indiana. I can see the buds on the Sugar Maple tree in front of our house growing day by day. We’re also spotting Robin Red-breasts hopping around on lawns looking for nesting material. Here’s one I stalked yesterday:

We’ve always looked for Robins as the first sign of spring.

Another sight that that brings back memories is the huge Canada Goose. If you are a North American, you’ll be familiar with these beauties. Here’s a gander guarding his goose as she sits on her clutch of eggs: (Eunie got this very nice shot while I was in the Bureau of Motor Vehicles getting a new registration for the Harley.)

As you can see they are quite large. Guessing, I’d say an adult might weigh 10 kilos or more. They always fly in pairs or in large v-shaped formations of up to maybe fifty or so. They have a beautiful cry something like, “a-LAA, a-LAA, a-LAA,” in a nice contralto voice.

Here’s another one of the goose on her nest. Coming too close will make her start to honk and the gander will hiss and get very aggressive. Here’s the goose honking softly at me as if to say, “Hey, this is family business here. Please go away.”:

As you can see, they will nest practically anywhere. This nest was in a metre wide strip of grass between a garage and a busy parking lot. When I was a lad, we always saw them flying over in migration by the millions, but never saw one on the ground. I suppose it might have been because they were heavily hunted. Now they are so common that some people consider them vermin. I’m sure that they must now outnumber all the dogs and cats in the area. A large population no longer migrates, but stays year-round.

More about Spring in Indiana as it rolls in.

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