If it ever happens that I don’t get excited about watching and listening to Canadian Geese, I hope someone will begin CPR immediately!
(A cold February morning on the Clark Fork river.)
February 2, 2008
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Montana Outdoors 
Love the Canadian Honkers – I myself have a ton of photos!!
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Comment by Sandy — February 2, 2008 @ 7:50 pm
I can’t wait until the Canadian Geese return back up here.
I miss hearing their honking as they fly overhead.
Beautiful photos!
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Comment by ak_adventurer — February 2, 2008 @ 9:06 pm
Sandy,
It’s hard to quit photographing them, isn’t it? Seems like there’s always one more…
Thanks for visiting!
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Comment by montucky — February 2, 2008 @ 9:28 pm
ak-adventurer
Most of the ones we have around in the summer migrate south from here, but we still have a fairly large resident population that stay all winter, I’ve never figured out why some migrate and some stay. I’m glad they do though, and they seem to do quite well here, as do lots of ducks, although most of the duck species migrate away.
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Comment by montucky — February 2, 2008 @ 9:32 pm
we read about a type of goose that now lives on a volcano in hawaii. gotta see if I can find that again….nene goose I believe. they think it/they got off course during migration and adapted to the volcano!
gonna go look that up right now….
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Comment by silken — February 2, 2008 @ 11:06 pm
well, not sure if it is descended from Canada goose or not, but similar in appearance, and definitely a warmer climate! 🙂
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Comment by silken — February 2, 2008 @ 11:10 pm
silken,
I guess they’re like a lot of critters: they learn to adapt, then evolve to live in a wide range of habitat. It’s interesting to think of a goose living in a warm area like that since I’m so used to thinking of them in cold areas. In my arsenal of outdoor clothing at least, goose down insulated clothing is the very warmest and I always link the honkers to the cold.
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Comment by montucky — February 2, 2008 @ 11:26 pm
Oh such pretty creatures! Yes, and well said about the CPR! 😉
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Comment by Sumedh — February 2, 2008 @ 11:53 pm
Yes, I love their markings. Also their calls. When the weather is a little warmer and I can leave a window open a little, sometimes a flight of them will wake me in the middle of the night when they come in to the river.
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Comment by montucky — February 3, 2008 @ 10:45 am
I love the sound of honkers too! To my mind, their call is signaling the change of season and it really doesn’t matter to me whether that is summer to fall or winter to spring, it’s just plain exciting to hear. I especially love the first photo, it seems quite probable that this is a “family,” especially since families stick together for about two years.
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Comment by Janet Wilkins — February 3, 2008 @ 12:23 pm
I like hearing them during migration times when the big “V’s” form. Often then a huge group will stop for awhile on the river below the house and they are incredibly loud. It’s so much better than city traffic!
I think you’re right about this being a family. I think it’s the same group that has been hanging around here for weeks now. They are pretty safe here and there is riffle about a quarter of a mile long that is good for feeding. They share that with some small black and white diving ducks.
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Comment by montucky — February 3, 2008 @ 3:14 pm
My land is on the flyway from a huge flock’s summer lake to their feeding cornfields. I see the geese 2 times a day, maybe 30 feet above my head. Never get tired of them. (Oh, and they fly over my car hood and roof, too.) 🙂
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Comment by barbara — February 3, 2008 @ 10:44 pm
They do have a down-side too, don’t they! They are not popular with those who have stream side or lakeside property because they leave a lot of residue behind. That’s good for the wild country though.
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Comment by montucky — February 4, 2008 @ 9:58 am
I adore your Canadian geese shots. (The ones posted earlier too… loved that brrr post…) I’m glad you answered the migration issue in your comments because I was curious. I’ve been running into this red-shafted northern flicker and he’s supposed to show up about spring time… hum… are these the signs they used in the past to predict spring? Anyway…. beautiful shots.
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Comment by aullori — February 4, 2008 @ 4:39 pm
Do you watch NBC News? Did you see how the number of folks that visit state and national parks, or go hiking, or fishing, or just generally enjoy the outdoors, has declined to the point where, in the near future, we may not have enough interest in the environment or conservation issues? It was sad (and alarming) to hear!
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Comment by Janet Wilkins — February 4, 2008 @ 6:20 pm
Thanks, Lori!
We have had a number of flickers wintering around here this winter too and I don’t remember them in previous years. The rest of the usual winter crew seems to be about normal. It hasn’t at all felt like the coming of spring yet here. Today I was in a cold canyon and a pretty good snow storm.
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Comment by montucky — February 4, 2008 @ 7:32 pm
Janet,
No, I didn’t see that but it would be alarming! I think I remember a story about Glacier though, that said it had a very high visit rate this year. Up here there is a very high usage rate for all the forest lands, but one of the main problems here is the high number of people who believe it is their right to exploit the wild country as much as they can for personal gain. Conservation and environmental groups are keeping up the fight though to save them. I personally send out many e-m,ails to legislators and Forest Service decision makers on issues relating to wildland preservation, wildlife protection, etc.
I am working on one, as an example, right now concerning new Forest Service rule changes that would give heavy priority to commercial guides and outfitters to access public lands ahead of general public use. That goes along with the strong feeling out here that the wild country exists only so someone can make money from it. Here’s a link explaining more of this current issue: http://rrfw.org/article.php?file=20071222.RRFW_Riverwire.Public_Comment_Extended_on_USFS_Give-Away
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Comment by montucky — February 4, 2008 @ 7:43 pm