October 13

At midday a flock of Canada Geese flew overhead. We heard them a half minute or so before seeing them, from the direction of the lower woods northeast of the house. The stillness of the day was broken only by their strident calls from high up.

I counted 22 birds descending in a loose “v,” flying over the top of the spruce line before making a wide arc around the fields. Once, twice, they circled, then changed course to land just to the south in the area of the old flats, now given over to a parking lot and grassy area next to the college.

The geese will be seen increasingly now, and once the first real killing frosts arrive they’ll likely take to the fields, less worried about tractors or farmers to interrupt their autumn grazing.