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Show rmMkn&mnaimHr - 1 - At first we thought it was birds coming from the West part of the lake where we had watched the birds at first before be-fore coming up to where the next large number were located. This was not so. They were incoming in-coming birds, probably ready to stop their flight to Canada to rest. The geese travel so far and then they have to stop and rest for a day or two, sometimes more, before they resume their flight north. The lake began to fill with birds. We watched them come in huge numbers from the Southwest, making all kinds of racket as they flew and squawked at the same time. Soon the whole area was filled with birds. The noise was very loud. The storm clouds began to come in. They were dark and gloomy. The birds began to fly by Marcella Walker You've heard from me before be-fore in this column about how much I enjoy going to Delta each Spring to see the Snow Geese on their way North, but our visit last week was the best one ever! When we arrived at the reservoir res-ervoir where the Snow Geese congregate each year, a large portion of the birds were near the Sherwood Shores .area. However, there was another large number up in the East part of the lake. The number of them were impossible to believe. We go to Delta every year to see the Snow Geese. Delta City holds an annual festival near the end of February or first of March when the Snow Geese are expected to arrive. Many people attend this annual event. On the day we went there were only a couple of cars there with sight-seers. Of course, some people live around the lake all year long. We saw one man come out of his house with his fishing gear. He walked to the lake which was directly behind be-hind his home. He put bait on the end of two fishing poles and put the poles in a tall metal can, adjusted them to his liking, and then he went back in the house. I guess he checks the fish lines in a while to see if anything is caught. Anyway, we watched the birds in both locations for quite a long time. Suddenly, a huge number of geese began coming in from the West. There was so many in spots that you could not see the sky. They began to land on the lake near the East end where we were watching from our car. from the water to the shore on the Northeast side. The shore was a rather good distance higher high-er than the water. By the hundreds hun-dreds they flew up to the ground above the lake, packing themselves them-selves close together to protect from the oncoming storm. "BLAB" continued on Page 3 "BIAB" continued from Page 2 The sound of the geese was very loud, not only from the wings in flight, but also when they landed on the ground, they began to squawk really loud. We watched them as they huddled close together on the opposite shore. Some diehards stayed in the water but in huge numbers they flew to the safely of the shore. At about this time we decided de-cided we needed to head for home, too. We took one last look at these gorgeous creatures and went on our way. I missed the loud squawking of the birds as we left the area but it had been a great day and I'll always remember this special March day when the Snow Geese put on quite a show for us. As we started up the car to drive away, it must have startled the birds, even though they were quite far away on the shore, and they took off in huge numbers, filling the sky with their white bodies, touched with black under un-der the wings. I felt so bad that we may have been the ones who star tled them, they are jittery birds anyway, but they flew off into the distance as we helplessly watched from our car. I am sure that soon thereafter there-after they came back to their resting place on the shore of the lake and spent a few days before continuing their journey North. We continued our own journey, getting home easily with hardly any more rain as the skies cleared and the sun came out brightly. I hope the sun shone for the geese in Delta, too! |