Goose Swirls

Outside this morning I observed hundreds and hundreds of geese flying from the river two miles north of us, right over our property, and circling, circling, looking like they were hunting for a landing strip that would fit all of them. They first circled our little pasture: no good, apparently, and the vortex of wings and honking whirled further east to another field, and then another. But they never landed. They circled back they way they came, circling across our little pasture and back to the river just north of us. The whole thing took maybe ten minutes.

Then they repeated this trek. Same way, same noise, same circles. Across a few fields, and back to the river. At this point in my 9º morning, I thought to run in and get a camera.

SO when the geese did this a third time, I had my camera ready. Unfortunately, it's not a good camera. So...one can HEAR the geese, but one can't make out the hundreds that are making smoky swirls in the sky. Too bad, too - it was quite a sight.

It is cold and windy this afternoon, and the wind is out of the southwest. The forecast calls for cold wind through the night, too. But it will be coming out of the north. Maybe the geese were trying to decide whether to plan for southwest or north winds before they landed. Maybe they just gave up after the third try and went back home.