Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Flocking Together

I was proctoring an all essay final on Monday when the silence was broken by honking geese somewhere in the distance.

I also heard the migration from inside while grading at night on Nov. 28 or 29th.

Out in the field in mid-November (probably the 11th) we kept hearing birds just over the tree tops.  I finally realized that it was a large flock very high in the sky.  My best guess is cranes, as they were definitely not geese.

Driving to New Mexico on Nov. 23, I encountered many lone raptors.  If it weren't such a preposterous suggestion, I would say that three of them were falcons.  Which would increase my lifetime wild falcons sightings by 300 percent.

As I was walking to work on Thursday, Dec. 1 a flock of canada geese flew low over the houses and there was a flash of white in their midst.  A snow goose among the canadas.

No, I don't know what that means.  Perhaps the one I saw last Dec. found some friends?