Unlike we humans in this year 2020, our fine-feathered friends, a/k/a Canada Geese, are free to congregate, break bread … er, graze, just as much as they want. They don’t follow any social distancing guidelines, and, if they decide to cross the road for better-tasting grass or clearer canal water … well, they are going to do it and take their sweet ol’ time doing so.
I took this trek on Halloween morning. It was one of several parks I went to that day, all the while enjoying exquisite weather. Elizabeth Park is one of my favorite venues to visit and it turned out that orange and black, the colors we often associate with the spooky Halloween holiday, were in abundance. Just have a look at the beautiful orange leaves and in this photo, the Canada Goose, with its sleek black head peering at me, looks like a periscope in a sea of dry and crackly leaves.
I was at Elizabeth Park about 90 minutes and got a few pictures as I walked around.
Loosey Goosies.
As I made my way back to the car, from my vantage point on the perimeter road, I saw at least 80+ Canada Geese congregating and grazing near the canal area. I wish I could have made a panoramic photo for you to see, but they likely would have looked like black dots on a sea of still-green grass. I had heard a lot of honking overhead as I walked around Elizabeth Park, but did not realize they were all headed for the same spot. I didn’t even see a single goose in the canal, just on the grass. These photos show just a few of the bunch.
One of the geese evidently appointed itself “The Leader” …
… and “The Leader” proceeded to rally the troops up the hill.
Follow me where I go …
This is how it looked as they played “Follow the Leader” and got in line, single file …
… and believe me, I was not the only person who took a gander at those geese and thought “oh-oh, I’m in for a long wait to get out of here!”
Elizabeth Park is actually an island and the one and only road that encircles the park is one way and the speed limit is 15 mph, in order to beware of humans as well as geese which often cross the road, (usually one or two at a time, not en masse like this). There was a steady stream of geese waddling across. This is just a few of them crossing shot from different angles.
I had to laugh when soon a long line of vehicles, with drivers wearing exasperated looks, a few wringing their hands, were waiting for the geese to waddle across. People know not to go around them, nor honk their horn either. Patience is a virtue sometimes.
I walked between a few of the geese, got into my car and soon found myself at the tail end of the queue. The wait was not all that long – perhaps 15 minutes, then the coast was clear. Everyone hurried and put the pedal to the metal before the geese all decided to cross the road a second time back to where they came from!
I resisted the urge to call out ” mercy sakes alive, looks like we got us a convoy!” (I know I lost most of you on that reference to “Convoy” the CB song by C.W. McCall, circa 1975).
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
This reminds me of the duck crossing signs in Australia 😉 They were too cute!
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Jeanine – I secretly think they know it makes the drivers mad and purposely take their time and sometimes they will stop in the middle of the street and look right at the drivers as they wait. Of course, maybe I read too much into it, but this is just a small sample of the crowd – they were a constant stream of geese. Made me laugh … I was not in a hurry, but I had been to several parks already and happy to sit down so I finally headed to my car. Remember … right after you and I discovered each other’s blogs, I sent you a turtle crossing sign from the day I got lost in the country?? Animals travel at their own pace , gotta love ’em sometimes.
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Oh Linda, if I was a goose, I’d probably do the same!
(In German stupid goose is an insult – dumme Ganz)
It feels like I told you before, but once driving home after a party I had to make a full stop right in the middle of the city because some ginormous koala crossed the street. There were at least 4 cars that came to a full stop and we just watched him wonder around. He made it in the end but with that attitude you kinda wonder how he made it that far in live in the first place ….
We seem to travel at our own pace as well 😉 Let’s keep on doing that!
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Well here in America we call someone “a silly goose” but it is not a common expression anymore. Now we have stronger names for people it seems! Especially if you read the comments on news stories and Twitter comments that leave you reeling sometimes!
I do think you mentioned the koala bears as I remember telling the story recently of going to the Toledo Zoo to see the exhibit and they did nothing but sleep, sprawled out on the trees in their exhibit. Their handler said the eucalyptus leaves don’t give them much sustenance so they sleep a lot. Never heard that factoid before we went as I may have saved myself the 54 mile/86 km trip!
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Yeah, it’s the same with wombats. If you’re lucky they will dig a whole, if not they are hiding in one …
We saw 9 squirrels in the park this morning, so buying nuts today!!!
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I’ve never seen a wombat, but I remember when I posted the photos of the roly-poly groundhog, someone asked if it was a wombat and had to Google to see what that was. Good seeing 9 squirrels – buy nuts and they’ll be your friends forever. The only problem is that every time you show up, so will they. 🙂
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Camera, nuts but no sun out today … I did get a few squirrel shots though! What a nice start to the day!
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Glad to hear that Jeanine – hopefully after a few times there, you’ll have a following for when the sun comes out again. Isn’t that a peaceful way to start your day? That’s how I feel too. Sometimes it is so quiet in the Park and I can hear the squirrels cracking the peanuts, the shells falling onto the path or the blue jays cracking their peanuts – they hold the peanuts with one foot, crack it open with their sharp beak. It takes me away from the craziness of the world.
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Hi Linda, are you sure this was not meant to be a poem? We were a we bit late today and all the joggers were gone and the park felt so empty.
Learning curve steep!
Ever since I’m bringing the proper camera the sun refuses to come out. Drizzle today. Lots of squirrels hiding 😦
But yes, the best start to the day ever. Why did it take me so long?
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Ha ha – I only take the big camera on the weekends and the rest of the time the point-and-shoot … but the point-and-shoot is so convenient and I can hand out peanuts AND take pictures at the same time – can’t do that with a bigger camera unfortunately. And, it’s sunny during the week, cloudy on a weekend sometimes. If it’s really windy, they stay up in their nests. I feel a sense of peace walking through the Park and they come over … someone said I reminded them of Snow White. 🙂
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😉 At this rate, Berlin might get a crazy squirrel lady, too!
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Enjoy that title Jeanine – I don’t mind being called that at all! Today I didn’t take the camera as it was really windy – I saw ducks up close, the elusive heron, and cardinals which have been missing most of the Summer. Our park shut down an entire month due to COVID. When I came back when it opened, no cardinals. They used to hop along behind me on the trail – very cute!
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I loved your photos, especially the periscope.
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Glad to give you a smile Anne. This year since Council Point Park was on lockdown for a month during the height of dandelion season, I didn’t get photos of the sea of yellow dandelions, nor the sea of spent dandelions either. I have a picture in my blog of some geese walking through a field of dandelions … they had all gone to sea and all you see is a bunch of black necks moving through the very tall dandelions. The City does not maintain our parks … they have a grass-cutting service that does all the parks in the area, so lots of rain causes them to be behind, so they were overdue to cut those dandelions down. It looked very funny to see it.
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That is amusing.
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I love the fall foliage. But when you say loosey goosey, all I can think of is the goose-poop that is probably all over that park. Our last visit to the cemetery where my wife’s family is buried gave us that experience – goose droppings were absolutely everywhere. Ugh.
I see that I somehow stopped getting your posts via email again. I wonder what’s up with that.
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That orange foliage was stunning that day! I can just imagine all the goose poop too, but luckily that is an area where only the geese go – sometimes the ducks come out of the canal and walk around, but closer to the shoreline. It is a small valley, so no stepping on goose poop there. But I get it … it is bad at Council Point Park where I walk daily. It was really bad when the Park opened on June 2nd after a one-month lockdown and the geese had the run of the Park pavilion and walking paths. Double ugh!
I wonder why that happens to you? It happened before too. WordPress does has its bugs and glitches sometimes.
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I had to smile, yes I remember that song, Convoy, that was pretty popular in the day. I do love that first photo, it looks 3 dimensional to me. The trees in the background look like they are in black and white as the trees in the for ground are so colorful. As if to say the past is gone and behind us, but what is right in front of us is colorful and beautiful. And that is a lot of geese, they are back from where ever they go in the summer months. 🙂
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I started to have the link to YouTube for the song and decided against it. Funny, I listened to the song and knew all the words and haven’t heard it in decades. It was popular back in the day. Glad you liked that picture up top Sandra. The orange leaves were so vibrant! As I walked around I kept hearing geese honking but never knew they were congregating there … it was wall-to-wall geese!
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Geese will be geese. I was once on a 4 lane busy highway. Everyone was stopped as a family of about 6 geese were crossing it. They can fly so I’m not sure for a road that wide they took the chance. Fortunately all the drivers stopped.
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Yes, they amble along wherever they feel like it, just oblivious to everyone. At Lake Erie Metropark that often happens as well. I once waited a half hour as I couldn’t back up so had to wait. Drivers are more apt to stop for a mother duck and her ducklings but they often try to go around the geese.
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Hopefully no geese get hurt.
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Not that time and the road is elevated so you can’t just drive around them. But they did poke along a long time. But we had someone in another county a few years ago, who was mad he had to wait for the geese, so he drove through the group of geese. I don’t think they ever found the driver … it was pretty horrific and made the news not only here, but the national news as well. Who does these acts of cruelty?
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Lovely colored leaves and geese photos! Looks like you had a perfect autumn day for taking photos!
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Thanks Rebecca – it was just a glorious day … the orange leaves were so vibrant. We had quite the windstorm yesterday so the leaves are likely now all off the trees.
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What a wonderful post Linda! I loved the convention theme, and the periscope image and pictures. I have a love/hate relationship with Canadian geese, mostly hate because they have taken over the only park near me. I’m looking of a photo of geese flying in formation if you have any? It’s too hard to get one, as they’re gone before I can get the camera out. They need to honk sooner.
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Thanks Joni – glad you liked it. My brethren!! I kept seeing the geese up in the air and like you tried to get a picture – sometimes a large group will honk to say “stop here” otherwise one or two seem to come in silently. They were honking overhead but sometimes the sun was in my eyes too so I couldn’t see anything. The geese do tend to take over – in this particular spot, it is like a valley and the road is high up so you look down. At the water, the ducks hang out but the rest is just a lot of land, lots of grass for the geese to graze on. The geese get cantankerous especially when it is gosling time. These all kept to themselves though, until they found it necessary to get to the other side! I was at home and saw a huge flock of geese in V-formation and got to Council Point Park and saw the same geese formation. I whipped out the camera and got several shots. This was maybe the biggest formation I’ve ever seen and I always look up at them as I’m amazed how they are synchronized like that:
https://lindaschaubblog.net/2019/06/15/eat-your-peas/
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Thanks Linda. Do you mind if I use it for my blog? I’m working on next week’s post about the famous Tom Thomson painting Chill November, and need some real life geese!
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No problem at all and you don’t have to mention me in it … I was just amazed to see such a large group, actually they split apart they were so large. I always look up if they are noisy enough and I hear them coming.
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The road crossing photo with the picnic table in the background reminded me of Robert McCloskey’s wonderful children’s book, “Make Way for Ducklings”. Also, “… I was not the only person who took a gander at these geese…”. Oh that’s good 🙂
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Thank you – you are the only one who caught that little quip!! I went back and looked at the picture Dave. Some of our parks have duck or goose crossing signs. One Metropark had a turtle crossing sign! Every year I would go looking for a Mama Duck and her ducklings – never saw them. This year I was at my park I go to everyday and had left the camera at home. I went back home, got the camera, hoping they were still walking around and they were. The cutest scene ever … all the mini me ducklings following close behind her. If you look at this post, you can see them:
https://lindaschaubblog.net/2020/06/15/so-do-you-have-your-ducks-in-a-row/
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We too have lots of Canada Geese around here! I love watching them fly by in their formations. They often congregate on the baseball field at the park I visit. Your photos show them off well. And yes, they do take their time crossing the street! Honk-honk! 😉
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I have seen some large formations and marvel at them. I like watching them fly in formation as well, synchronized and perfect – very impressive. I often walk at Elizabeth Park, but have not seen that many geese at one time before. They sure did monopolize the street that day Sabine – honk honk indeed!
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Around here they often fly at night and the only reason I know is because they honk in the dark sky! Hopefully they have the proper immigration papers! 😉
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I didn’t know they honked at night – that would be incredible to hear. They likely have easier access, especially now that our border is closed!
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I sometimes watch a bird cam on YouTube. It’s part of Cornell University and in Upstate New York. You should check it out. They stream live around the clock and sometimes even there one can here the geese honking at night as they come in for a landing. There’s even an occasional squirrel!
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I just went over there and looked around and bookmarked it to go back tomorrow … I was looking at a webcam and it was snowing … no birds at the birdfeeder there. Thaks for telling me about this site – I would like to hear those geese honking at night. I go to explore.org sometimes and you can search for what you’d like to see … wildlife, nature shots … I’ve watched the hummingbirds as they have three cameras. My late neighbor loved hummingbirds and I found the site and she watched it once her hummingbirds left for warmer weather. She had hummingbird feeders all around the house, but mostly near her window where she sat the most. I will go back to see the squirrels too – they are likely tucked in their nests for the night. I have looked at this Cornell site to hear bird calls. I am still following the Michigan photographer Jocelyn Anderson with her many bird photos on Twitter – she videos the birds, even woodpeckers, eating from the palm of her hand. Fun and fascinating to watch!
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I love that Cornell bird cam! Checked in last night and it was snowing sideways there! 😬 Early last year we also watched a live Bald Eagle cam from Decorah, Iowa. We watched as the eggs hatched all the way to when the nestlings fledged. They left the camera on as sometimes the immature birds would stop by and sometimes at night you can see a mouse scurrying around in the nest. I had no idea that mice climb up trees that high. There really are quite a few great nature cams on YouTube. How times have changed!
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I will return there and forwarded the link to a woman who is an avid birdwatcher and sketches or paints what she sees. She wrote back that she loved it … I knew she would. I also enjoy the Explore.org web cams and watched the Decorah, Iowa bald eagle nest there earlier this year. I sent the link to Wayne as I knew he would enjoy seeing those eaglets. The snow was flyin’ on the Cornell Ontario night cam. I would not think mice climbed that high into trees either – perhaps the eagle caught it and brought it up for the eaglets? I would think that the mouse would have been dead by the talons though.
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The mouse running around in the nest at night is alive. The nest has been empty for a few months. It’s probably scavenging for old morsels of food left behind as I watched the eagles bury their catch in the nest. I guess kind of like a pantry! 😉
Next time I see the mouse I’ll take a picture for you!
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That’s amazing – I wouldn’t think it could climb that high either … well, it is safe up there as long as no raptors see it. Thank you Sabine – I will look forward to seeing that mouse.
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Wow! I’ve never seen so many Canada geese in one place at one time. It’s kind of funny they decided to walk across the road when they could easily have flown across. 🙂 Perhaps they get a kick out of exasperating the humans or maybe walking takes less energy than flying, although flying would be a lot faster. The mysteries of birds…
I love the picture of the leaves on the park bench and the Canada goose looking around like a periscope in the sea of leaves.
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I think like you do Barbara and they thought they’d be a thorn in the side of all the drivers for a while. They were silent going across the road, compared to how loud they were coming down for a landing. I heard them above, never saw where they ended up until I was ready to go. Glad you liked those two pictures … the colorful leaves settled there and it looked pretty and that goose was all neck wasn’t he?
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Dear Miss :”Leader”…………………I’ll follow you anywhere you go on any day that you go……………………..that’s how beautiful your photos are of our 2020 Fall this year…………………………..thank you
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Glad you are enjoying the Fall color show of beautiful leaves Ann Marie – thank you for your nice comment. I suspect all the leaves are down now after yesterday’s windstorms. There was lots of damage at Heritage Park from the windstorm – it took a big tree down and toppled all the light show equipment for their Blizzard of Oz Winterfest that is coming beginning November 19th.
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Gorgeous scenery! I bet all the leaves are gone now like they are at my house after that horrible 65 mph winds! Don’t those geese fly the coup for winter?
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Yes, those orange leaves were so vibrant! I bet they are all gone too. The neighborhood trees out front were bare and not on the lawns, but my backyard was covered after that big windstorm. Going to be high winds all week they say. I thought they usually fly south too Diane. Maybe this was a stopover before getting back on their way! I never saw so many in one place … this was just a sample of some of them.
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I remember that song. I’m impressed by your self control to not sing it out. The geese are amazing, but intimidate me. Your photos, as always, are wonderful.
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Ha ha – I put the link in and then took it out again, but when I went to YouTube I knew every single word. There are some songs I heard so many times when they were popular, that hearing them again after many years, it is like it is yesterday. I always liked Linda Ronstadt and my favorite album by her was “Simple Dreams” … I must’ve played that album daily when I was younger. I was playing some music on Amazon and stumbled upon the album. I remembered every song verbatim … yet, I forget something I went down the hall or downstairs for. Thank you Ally – glad you like the photos … it was a glorious Fall day and the orange leaves were so vibrant. The geese you must be wary of, especially when they’re nesting or have their goslings. I fed them once and they wanted more bread and chased after me … not funny at all. I also had a swan take off after me and I threw it peanuts and it stopped. Whew!
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Awesome photos! I stopped blogging for several months due to health issues and missed my fellow bloggers and their posts.
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Mary – I am so glad to see you back … I saw your site was taken down and realized your health issues had taken their toll and you needed a time out from blogging. I hope you are doing well and I will follow this new blog site and hope to see some new weavings. Welcome back! P.S. – It was a gorgeous day and those orange leaves were so vibrant!
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Thank you, Linda! Things were building since May. I had internal bleeding that began in May and was finally diagnosed, and after multiple transfusions, repaired in October – with Sepsis in August and a severe cardiac episode in September. God put some awesome doctors in my life and I’m still here. Thanks for following me! ♥️
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I am happy to see you back Mary and I have kept you in my prayers all along and will continue to do so. I know sepsis is a very serious problem and heart disease runs in my family, so I know the severity of cardiac problems as well. You have had a long journey since May, and I would agree that you have had some awesome doctors in your life … they will and have kept you going and now you are ready to take on the world. 🙂 That said, please stay home as much as you can and away from crowds during this horrible COVID crisis. I have gotten my food in for the Winter and hope to not venture out any more than necessary.
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Thank you, Linda. I really appreciate your prayers. I’m very housebound and receive the rest of my medical care at home and through tele visits – which has really helped with Covid and my overall situation. We’re also stocked up and use Amazon fresh grocery delivery. It sounds like we’re both on top of things.♥️
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I will continue to keep you in my prayers Mary. Right now I know so many people with severe health issues and since my mom had many health challenges, I have empathy and I understand how health challenges diminish your quality of life, your independence and much more. I am glad you don’t have to go out for doctor visits and you can do tele visits. I do not even know how to do that … I am fast becoming behind in technology as I’ve worked from home nearly a decade and don’t use Zoom or Skype … still on a Windows 7 interface.
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Thank you! The tele visits are done through an app from the doctors office and face time on my phone. The same you’d video chat with someone.
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I’ve not video chatted with anyone to date from my computer and don’t have a smartphone, just a flip phone, so I am not that tech savvy, though I had to learn about computers after my boss/I left the law firm and went out on our own, and now from working at home the last ten years … have gotten smarter about computers, but not all aspects.
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I’m not tech savvy either. But, they walked me through the process with the app. I don’t have a computer or Internet, so it works on my phone.
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Oh that is good they explained everything so well to you Mary and it is just an app on your phone. That is amazing you are able to prepare your posts and do all your blogging from your phone.
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The staff are very helpful. I do a lot on my phone. Including listening to music. At my age, I’m still amazed at all of this technology.
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After I am retired, I will likely join the smartphone users as they just raised my landline $6.00, to $63.00 per month. About ten years ago I took off long distance as I didn’t use it, so this is too expensive. But for now I need the landline with speaker phone for work. I think eventually most people will ditch the landline in favor of their cellphones.
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My phone has a speaker – unlimited calling. I got rid of my landline over ten years ago.
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Oh – that would be perfect … I think I will do that too when I retire (in two years) for sure. I rarely make phonecalls now, just work-related ones.
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It’s more budget friendly. I think you’ll be glad you switched.
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I think so too Mary. As soon as I don’t need it for work anymore I will do this.
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Wow! Those geese need a crossing guard, or maybe a “Goose Crossing” sign to get across the road. I love how you compared the goose peeking up over the rise to a periscope. that is exactly what he looks like. I do remember that song and the Burt Reynolds movie that it accompanied. Thanks for the earworm! 🙂
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They took their sweet time waddling across the road, plus multiple stops and starts as they ambled across. They move at their own pace. That goose was on a hill looking up – I thought he looks like a periscope, hope the shot looks like that too. I almost put the “Convoy” song link in but decided only a handful of people would remember it. You will have an ear worm now I listened to it and remembered all the words 45 years later.
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Oh bless, I know it must be infuriating waiting for them to cross but there is something quiet sweet about the power shift of animals living alongside humans and making us stop and observe their way of being in the moment without a care in the world ❤
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Oh I agree with you Zena – we must never be so impatient with them – the geese belong here on Earth, just as much as we humans do. It was kind of funny though … they start, they stop, they park themselves in the middle of the road. I secretly think they like wielding such powers!
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