Early morning surprise

Yesterday morning (February 20) I suffered an early and rude awakening. At 4:20 a Canadian Goose flew near the house. Of course, it had to honk away making lots of noise, which awoke my wife’s Pug and Rat Terrier; as well as both of us. The dogs barked and the pug ran down the stairs to the windows to drive the invaders off. The goose stayed around for a while, probably resting in the open part of the pond or in the small flowing stream below that. Regardless, he honked several more times (unless it was some friends joining him) and the dogs reacted as before. Finally the dogs calmed down and we kept them still in the bed. When I got up, the goose was still making an occasional call, but I never saw him.

These birds come through this area enroute nesting areas to the north. A few stay around, taking advantage of the lakes and ponds and wetlands; not to mention the local agriculture. There were often visitors at the pond last summer. They enjoyed tormenting the pug (or seemed to), but kept their distance when they saw people. Hopefully, I will be able to get some decent pictures of them this spring.

Back in Juneau, I expected to start seeing Canadian geese in the wetlands by the airport during February. They were working their way north to their nesting sites. I assume these geese are following the same pattern here on the Mississippi Flyway.

One of the interesting features of my home location is how sound travels and is funneled by the hills in the area. Some days, I can hear a normal conversation in my front yard while I am 300 yards away and up the hill beside the house. This sound channeling does cause problems when the animals are running around. That goose may have been further off than I think.

Later that evening, the dogs started going ballistic. They really wanted out. This usually tips me off that some critter is in the yard (or the mail delivery person is coming). I could see nothing. I am careful about letting the dogs out in these cases, since I can not always be sure what is out there. The dogs made several more dashes at the door. Finally, I saw a small dark object in the dim light ambling down the drive. The binoculars confirmed my suspicion. It was an opossum heading down toward the barn. I let him alone, since there is nothing in the barn for him to get into trouble with.

A week ago I had let the dogs out during the afternoon, when they had carried on this way. They both ran around the side of the house, raising a real racket. Suddenly, a half grown opossum came running up the sidewalk with the dogs following. I was able to keep everyone from getting into a fight, got the dogs back inside, and let the critter go his way. After all, I already have one in the freezer for mounting (I do taxidermy as a hobby), and did not feel like opossum for dinner. Of course, I might feel differently if I have some livestock such as chickens, but for now, he could go on his way.