Warm autumn morning,
geese linger on the lagoon;
they’ll be leaving soon.

After a leisurely walk along upper Sequim Bay this morning, I stopped next to a harvested cornfield to watch hundreds of Canada Geese fatten up for their long journey ahead. They seemed in no hurry to leave, meandering slowly through the field against a drop-dead gorgeous backdrop of the Olympic Mountains. (Notice the first snow of the season.) I love geese, always have. Migration fascinates me, that ability to move twice a year and set up a new home each time. Some geese do return to the same spot year after year, but others will try something new each spring and fall. More and more, some Canada geese are choosing to remain year round in temperate places like this part of Washington state. Have they tired of so much travel, I wonder, or have they decided, like me, that this is a fabulous place to live all year long?

Geese are so much larger up close than they seem in the sky, I almost wonder how they can become airborne until I watch them take off from a few yards away. Then the strength of their enormous wings becomes apparent. These are world-class athletes who can attain 60 mph during their flights and can fly as high as 8,000 feet. As I’ve heard the past few nights when out moongazing, they also fly at night and can go for 16 hours in a stretch. The brief slow motion video below demonstrates their wing power well.

VIDEO

CONTEMPLATIONS

• How are you preparing for winter?
• What are you stockpiling?
• Are you stronger than you look in some special way?
• Can you find your way home?

No clouds overhead, slack tide, lavender and azure bay mirrors the sky; then a crow breaks the spell. Deer fold themselves into the meadow for a night under the stars, and a trail of quail scurry about on last-minute business before sleep. A ragged vee of nine geese fly low along the bay, heading for the lagoon. By the greeting they get, they’re in good company. It’s nearing dark, but still more geese return, and this chorus with their nasally, multi-pitched honking creates dissonant chords of modern music. A symphony of geese, gulls, quail and frogs sing up the still-big moon.

Meet other geese here: