I Can Hear Spring

Just around the time when most of the snow has melted, spring comes honking back to my home in Spencerville, Ontario. It comes loudly. Canada geese don’t care if you’re sleeping or if you’re eating breakfast — they honk like crazy!

The sound is a whisper at first: honk, honk, honk, coming from the south. Then I see tiny dots, way up high. Their calls get louder: honk, honk, honk!

The dots form the letter V, moving quickly toward me in the blue sky. There are many geese flying in that V shape. The one at the front has the hardest job. When he gets tired, he moves back and another one takes a turn being the leader. They are even louder now: honk, honk, honk!

The geese fly right over me. I can see their black heads with white chinstraps. Their long black necks stretch out like darts. Their dark brown wings wave to me as they flap through the air. I can’t hear anything else, just honk, honk, honk!

I watch the geese touch down in the field behind my house. Two black legs with webbed feet unfold from under their creamy white bellies. They stop flapping their wings and glide to perfect landings.

The geese are hungry after their long journey. A farmer’s field is a great place to eat and rest. They feast on bits of leftover corn in the mud and swim in large puddles of melted snow, looking for more food. When they find something, they tip forward and put their head and neck right underwater to get it. The water sure looks cold to me!

More and more land until, in a few days, the field is jam-packed with noisy Canada geese. They honk to say hello to each other: honk, honk, honk, honk. They honk to warn of danger, like when my big dog Harley splashes through the puddles, ready for a game of chase! Honk. Honk. Honk. They honk because they are happy: honk, honk, honk, honk.

I watch, and I listen. The geese will be leaving in another couple of days to continue on their noisy journey north. Spring is finally here!