Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Departing Ungrateful Company

As fall goes on, one of the sounds we're guaranteed to hear is Canada geese honking as they gather for the flight south. I've often said they can't possibly be Canadian, since most of them scatter as far south as they can at the first hint of frost. Of course, there is a good share of human Canadians who do the same thing. Both migrating birds and migrating humans get the moniker snowbirds.

I thought I'd address the snowbird thing with a meme on this pic of two Canada geese I took earlier in the year, coming ashore off the Ottawa River.



51 comments:

  1. LOL! I've seen some extra activity on the part of geese lately. I think they are ready to go!

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  2. I'm a No Bird!


    ALOHA from Honolulu
    ComfortSpiral
    =^..^=

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  3. I was always under the impression that quite a few of the Canada geese only fly as far south as the Washington, DC area. They seem to stay more and more year round. Must have found a way to get the Green Card. ;-)

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    1. Maybe they just want to hang with the other bird brains?

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  4. I still find it amazing that birds of this size can fly so far.

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  5. Lots of these guys hang out here all winter. Some towns and cities have bylaws that prohibit feeding them.

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  6. I can't blame them for going to warmer regions.
    During the last nights I heard the first geese flying over my hometown too. They come from Scandinavia, looking for warmth and nice fresh grass in our region.

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  7. If only more of them did fly south for the winter! I find there are typically plenty that stay and leave a mess. :S

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  8. Actually, I think a good many of them cheat and stop to dip their toes in the Potomac River near me. :-)

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  9. It's a tough life, migrating: hunters, angry university students, and the like!

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  10. We get lots of both kinds of migrants during the winter months. I've heard those geese flying over my house many times as they travel between the ponds at two different city parks here.

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  11. The birds are very clever to go south for warm weather. Here some Senior people do the same, they go to Spain for 4 months.

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  12. @Linda: I imagine the ones that were here all summer are about to go, or already have.

    @Cloudia: well you live in paradise, after all!

    @Merisi: their winter grounds tend to be over quite a wide area; some do stay in this area if there's open water on a river, but most leave.

    @Mike: thanks!

    @Babzy: thank you!

    @Stuart: the instinct to migrate's a big one.

    @Andy: I've seen some in the Credit River over the winter.

    @Jan: I have a documentary called Winged Migration that follows various birds in their travels.

    @Halcyon: and quite a mess they leave.

    @Revrunner: it's warmer there than here in February.

    @Jennifer: you'd think they'd settle down in one spot.

    @Sharon: and we get some birds in the winter that we don't see at any other time of year.

    @Marianne: a lot of Canadians head to Florida or the Gulf Coast for the winter.

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  13. Ha, funny! I know Washington state had a problem with their leaving major mess while moseying down to the Gulf of Mexico. I've heard they're good to eat.... ;)

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  14. Yes we have plenty of both the human and bird variety of snowbirds arriving down here this time of year!

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  15. Haha, nice pic and nice meme!
    They are not as stupid as they look... :-)

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  16. LOL that's funny! Sure, they just want a nice vacation in the a Gulf of Mexico during winter! I want to join them down there when it gets frosty here :-)

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  17. I agree with the geese! I'm a lot further south than Canada, but at the first sign of winter, I get the itch to head for the southern hemisphere!

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  18. I think that this is a reasonable guess of what they are thinking!

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  19. hahahaha... "that and crapping on your park lawns.Be back soon!"

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  20. @Bibi: they're real characters though.

    @Lois: my uncle has a brother-in-law who would be one of them. He golfs all year round, and would be on his way there soon.

    @Karl: I do like photographing them.

    @Tex: thanks!

    @Tamago: I would rather vacation somewhere colder!

    @Norma: lots of people do!

    @VP: they must chatter a lot when they're down south about the poor fools who spend the winter in the snow.

    @Birdman: they would think that too!

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  21. The flock that winters here has yet to arrive but I'm sure they are getting ready.

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  22. Oh they come all the way down here to my previous home in La Quinta and hang out on the golf courses. Golfers aren't crazy about them but I love the honking.

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  23. Canada geese are definitely on the move right now and they sure are NOISY!

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  24. We had some geese -- messy geese! -- at our lake house in north Georgia that refused to go home in the summer!

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  25. Not us we stay the winters and tuff it out lol cause we are Canadian lol Thanks for sharing , Have a good day !

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  26. I actually laughed out loud, thanks William :)

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  27. I understand the urge to head south but think of all the winter fun missed!

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  28. Well they don't go too far South. Some winter overhere too. Along with the Snow Geese, Trumpeter Swan and Eagles. MB

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  29. @Judy: they seem to go all over the place.

    @Eve: it's a sound you can't mistake for something else.

    @EG: they seem noisiest when they're on the move.

    @Cheryl: they know a good thing when they see one.

    @Country Gal: thanks!

    @Denise: you're welcome!

    @Tanya: smarter than one might expect!

    @RedPat: and winter's the best season.

    @Marleen: thanks!

    @MB: where they end up probably depends on the individual flock.

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  30. Haha! Hopefully this year isn't as cold as last year. (Every Canadian's wish!)

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  31. In Greensboro, they STAY. They don't go anywhere. If you ever need any, I can find you some!

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  32. hmm, many of them make it as far as Lake Ontario and love it here so much, they stay.

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  33. i really do not like the geese. why? they are so mean. hissing & such ... not nice to other animals at all. they don't play nice at all. so not fair ... & yes, they are too loud. quiet please. ha. ha!! ( :

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  34. A great many decided to stay in Northwest Washington. It usually (to them) is a temperate place to be and the silly two-legged beings feed them. Then they make such a mess, the people have to have them transplanted to some place different.

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  35. @Linda: thanks!

    @Jen: we had a heck of a winter last time out.

    @Mark: who'd have thought?

    @Greensboro: well, a few months a year of watching where I step is plenty enough!

    @Hamilton: if the water stays open, they'll stay!

    @Beth: they like to make noise!

    @Mari: feeding them here is discouraged.

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  36. This is s-o-o-o funny! Thanks for the laugh.

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  37. Flying South for the winter sounds like a sensible idea to me William, those geese could be onto something :)

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  38. Hehe
    Wish there were more of them around my place, they are so beautiful. We have them in Norway, but not so close to where I live

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  39. That is so funny!
    During the winter we see a ton of Canadians and Canadian Geese. During the summer, we see a ton of Germans, but no German Geese. Go figure!

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  40. Very cute. Until this past November, I lived in Mississauga steps away from a park with a large pond. There was never a winter that we didn't have at least a couple of dozen of these beauties around. They were never too far from Lake Ontario if they needed more open water though. And there was rarely a spring that we weren't rewarded with the sweet goslings.. if only for a couple of days until they moved on.

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  41. migrating like birds also could solve many people's depression caused by winter or summer..
    finally winter is coming but very slow.. still we have 35 deg C during day time. I saw 41 deg C for reel feel yesterday..

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  42. @Kay: you're welcome!

    @Randy: thanks!

    @Grace: lots of humans follow their example.

    @Spiderdama: I do like them. They have character.

    @Pat: a lot of them go down for the weather and the golf.

    @Hilary: last winter I was down in Mississauga and saw a number of them on open stretches of the Credit River.

    @Feyza: 35 degrees for us would be a heat wave. I don't think we got that high all summer.

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