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How Did You Spend the Last Quiet Sunday of 2018?
On occasion I have shared my love of flying with the Ricochet community, and this morning on my way from Annapolis MD to New Garden PA involved a lazy flight over Maryland’s Eastern Shore. This is over a rural stretch of farm land that is situated between two of the East Coast’s largest metros. Baltimore/Washington and Philadelphia. Yet for all of this “relatively” recent manmade developments, it has not erased one of nature’s time-spanning rites. The Eastern Shore has been the winter nesting region for one of the most ancient rituals of some remaining legacy dinosaurs. In this case it is the southern most point for the migration of those Canadian Geese. (Insert Canadian jokes and misplaced passports here)
My flying buddy & I were in no hurry, and we witnessed several huge flocks of these bird doing their mid-morning foraging, which typically involve a group launch, scouting around for a less picked over field for their “elevensies“, flying en mass, then dropping it for more eating, squawking, and eating. We started to follow some of these group conflagrations. This is a group we were able to capture, I hope you all enjoy this as much a Stad morning review from Myrtle Beach, which inspired me to share this little video clip.
Technical particulars: We were flying around at 2000′, the birds typically pop up to 800 to 1000 feet to see where the next meal lies. Our air speed was about 98 knots. The air was a smooth as a pond on a late summer sunset. Perfect.
Published in General
We have lots and lots of geese here in Summerville South Carolina. Are they not Canadian geese? They seem to live here year around. Don’t make me check their passports
A group seems to summer here at Lake Wissota State Park. I don’t recommend using the swimming beach there, for reasons which are immediately obvious if you’ve ever been around geese.
After church and coffee hour, we came home and napped. I got up later, rooted around in the pantry to see what we had on hand, and made a sweet potato and chicken curry that was simply wonderful.
Nope they are Canadian, apparently we are not the southern most locus of their travels. I do know that the Eastern Shore has flocks so multitudinous that it can take minutes before a herd of these squawking beasts can pass overhead. The large amount of agriculture attracts many hundreds of thousands of these guys. It’s impressive when the secret signal is given and the all launch en mass.
I recommend that you avoid being under their immediate launch site paths, because they jettison unnecessary ballast, and it is a impressive quantity of effluvia given their numbers, and it can remove the paint from your hood if you leave on there too long.
Driving. An all day drive with my 10 year old listening to books. No Talk Radio for me and no screen time of any sorts for him. Just books…it was wonderful. (Today’s selections were Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys and part of The Great Brain. Old books. Good books.)
Your geese might be in that middle band of aviators that have found it so cozy they have given up the whole migration thing. We had this ever expanding flock that lived by our erosion control pond on base that started as a few dozen, and eventually grew to hundreds over a 5 to 8 year period. When they decided to sashay over the parking lots sometime’s their “calling cards” would make walking dangerous. We have reports of multiple falls and a few broken bones from mishaps. This led to management coming to grips that they had to be “relocated”, since we had so many bleeding hearts that more acceptable procedure was met with cries of PETA like anguish.
Quietly, one long weekend (probably at this time of year, when all of the Federalies are burning their copious amounts of vacation), the birds all “magically” disappeared. I heard rumors that it was quite the bonanza for some of the local food banks. Given how portly many of those birds where getting, I don’t think too many could really fly away. With so many years of easy living eventually amounted to their gooses were getting “cooked”.
Somehow I think there is a parable, or Aesop’s fable lesson in there somewhere commenting on the arc of our society.
Our last Sunday of 2018 has been intensely sad. My wife & I had to take our 14 yr old Springer Spaniel Ella to the Humane Society to be put to sleep. It was quiet but quite emotional.
Slept late, did laundry, went out to pick up Ray’s new Yamaha P-515 keyboard, shopped for a roast for tomorrow.
Got the house ready for the New Years Eve Party.
Sounds like a great way to spend the last Sunday of 2018, George! Are you sure those are Canada geese? It’s a little hard to tell from the video, given the distance. They look almost white, with black primaries (like snow geese or white pelicans).
Our airport is right next to the Mississippi, right in the Mississippi Flyway, so in the fall and spring we really do have to keep an eye our for geese and other waterfowl (and sandhill cranes). It can be a bit nerve-wracking looking around constantly, trying to make sure we aren’t going to fly into any flocks!
We were going to go shooting, which would have made it an unquiet Sunday, but put it off for a day.
I neglected to answer your question, George: Went to Mass, had a late breakfast, and while Dave worked on the illustration for his latest story, I did housework, fussed with my orchids, did some reading, and argued with people here. Very quiet.
Thanks for sharing this. It reminds me of a similar view I got to experience while looking out of the open door of (the Canadian version of) a Huey helicopter while being ferried, as per battle, over the Strait of Georgia in British Columbia while I was an officer cadet in 1984 when we flew over huge flocks of seagulls soaring below.
They are quite beautiful seen from above. On the ground, not so much.
My quiet Sunday afternoon was spent with the New Jersey Reading Orchestra. It is many parts short of a full ensemble, but we managed to read through Haydn’s Symphony 96 as well as a few other pieces. Somewhat un-quiet as the bassoonist next to me has, shall we say, a robust tone.
My friend and I spent the last Sunday watching the NFL action. There were some great games, including a couple of nail-biters if you were for or against one of the two teams. We’re going to kick back and enjoy the college games the next two days. My Alma Mater NC State
will embarrass itselfplays Texas A&M tonight, but I also have a special interest in the Military Bowl (noon on ESPN), as one of my former coworker’s nephews is a starter for the Hokies.Great video, GLDIII! We could only take still photos when I flew back in the late 80s . . .
That’s amazing. There’s one point in the video where the flock seems to morph into a picture of one large bird! Thanks for sharing.
That is so cool. I wish I had the physical confidence to fly, and a lack of motion sickness.
At times I wish that as well!
“I want to pass on like my Grandfather did, peacefully in his sleep, unlike his screaming passengers with him in the cockpit….”
I still would like to commission a Dave original with Linda, Me & my Kitfox, before he gets tired of illustrating.
One of my favorite quotes!
My flight instructor told me, “As a pilot, there are three things that don’t do you any good – the runway behind you, the altitude above you, and the gas you’ve already burned.”
Fascinating formation changes that are not evident from watching them from the ground.
I, too, celebrated fossil fuels and the internal combustion engine, by roaring around the Santa Cruz mountains on a 1969 BSA Victor motorcycle with a friend who had just gotten his own Victor up and running. We got them both as a package deal literally out of a barn about 12 years ago. They must be the crudest motor vehicles still plying the roads. It was almost too cold, but we had a great time in a manly atavistic way, disturbing the peace and quiet everywhere. And for brief moments, I was 19 again. Amazing!
I like that.
Good word, ‘atavistic’.
That was magical! Loved it! Can you imagine being the lead bird? It was almost like they were trying to spell something……what do you think it was, or should have been if they could? Nature is amazing –
Sorry to hear it. Letting go of a pet is a wrenching experience…or it should be, if you are the kind of human that pets deserve.
There is a rescue dog that doesn’t know it is a member of your household, yet.
One of my favorite poems — I read it in First Things some years back and don’t remember the author I am ashamed to say:
As for Sunday, I poddled about on my ‘puter in the early morning, and chatted with family members as they got up for the day. With my family I went to the 11:15 Mass and sang in the choir. My 15 year old lectored. Then I came home and ate two grilled turkey and cheese sandwiches on everything rye bread and took a nap until about 3:30 pm. I played a game with my kids, and then began dinner. I baked chicken thighs with sesame oil and ponzu sauce and added scallions at some point. I made an apple-cranberry crisp and served it with the chicken and a big salad of greens and cucumber, dressed with rice vinegar and ponzu.
One of my sons cleaned up the kitchen and took out the garbage, as per usual.
I feel asleep by 9:30 pm. Good day.
Sounds like Ogden Nash:
If called by a panther,
Don’t anther.
I love these, by the way. High art…
That’s great video . . . but . . . they look too white to be Canada Geese.