Spring is in the air and if Canada geese wrote personals ads, they would sound something like this....

“SCG; Attractive, HWP seeking long term relationship with same. I’m a strong swimmer and flyer and can hold my own pretty well on land. Thanks to my parents careful training, I have a great sense of direction and timing and can always tell just when the seasons are about to change and where to go when it happens. I would make a devoted mate and a fiercely protective parent for our many broods over the years. If you’re in it for the long haul, I’ll always be there to choose a safe nesting site and build us a large, inviting birthplace for our goslings. I’ll even let you pick out their names.” ....

Sound self-aggrandizing and too good to be true? It’s just the nature of the goose. They are social and cooperative when flying in formation, but if it’s spring and you’re a young single goose looking for love, steer clear of any presently mated pairs lest ye suffer a goose version of the tongue-lashing of a lifetime (and possibly lose a tail feather or two in the process).

Canada geese are about the most conspicuous of the Anatidae (better known as the duck family), which includes dozens of species ducks--from mallards to mergansers--as well as eleven unique species of geese and swans. While their precisely planned formations are awe-inspiring, anyone who has beheld the deafening anarchy of a flock of snow geese taking off en-mass for their continent-long migration would think them legendary in their own right.

Another celebrated Canadian, the extraordinarily insightful naturalist and author, Farley Mowat, shared his impression of the world of geese (and the all-to-common human reaction to it) in his introduction to Captain Paul Watson’s book, “Ocean Warrior.“ ...

“Almost all young children have a natural affinity for other animals, an attitude which seems to be endemic in young creatures of any species. I was no exception.

“When I was a boy growing up on the Saskatchewan prairies, that feeling of affinity persisted--but it became perverted. Under my father’s tutelage I was taught to be a hunter; taught that ‘communion with nature’ could be achieved over the barrel of a gun; taught that killing wild animals for sport establishes a mystic bond. ‘an ancient pact’ between them and us.

“Then I experienced a revelation.

"On a November day in 1935, my father and I were crouched in a muddy pit at the edge of a prairie slough, waiting for daybreak...and then the dawn was pierced by the sonorous cries of seemingly endless flocks of geese that drifted, wraithlike, overhead. They were flying low that day. Snow Geese, startling white of breast, with jet-black wingtips, beat past while flocks of piebald wavies kept station at their flanks. An immense V of Canadas came close behind. As the rush of air through their great pinions sounded in our ears, we jumped up and fired.

“One goose fell, appearing gigantic in the tenuous light as it spiralled sharply down. It struck the water a hundred yards from shore and I saw that it had only been winged. It swam off into the growing storm, it’s neck outstreched, calling....calling....calling after the fast disappearing flock.

“Driving home to Saskatoon that night I felt a sick repugnance for what we had done, but what was of far greater import, I was experiencing a poignant but indefinable sense of loss. I felt as if I had glimpsed another and quite magical world--a world of oneness--and had been denied entry into it through my own stupidity. I never hunted for sport again.”

Despite centuries of persecution, Goose Nation has carried on. Whether we allow ourselves to see it or not, theirs is truly a magical world of oneness.