Geese Hill

For the past couple of weeks this flock of geese has been camped out on the hillside next to this little pond.  I get why they are here.  It's a nice pond and the sun warms up the hill - a great place to swim and lie in the sun.  But even for geese, there has to be more - don't you think?

And there is!  Right across the street from the pond is this lovely field of cut corn.  Plenty to eat, a pond to swim in and a hill to sun on.  What more could you ask for?  You know, if you are a goose.

These guys are Canada Geese, Branta canadensis.  This time of year they fly over our town, stopping at the ponds and cornfields to rest up before they fly further south.  The first flocks start coming to town at the beginning of October, the last will come through in December.

Sometimes in January we get a late flock flying in.  They usually stay here for the rest of the winter.  I figure that they come from way up north in Canada so when they get here, they think it's a tropical paradise - temps in the -20s, snow and ice everywhere.  They must come from a really cold place.