In the air, a grouping of geese is called a 'skein'. Lovely word. Lovely sight.
On the water, a grouping of geese is called a 'gaggle'. Not quite such a lovely word, but still a lovely sight.
On the land, that same grouping is called a 'flock.' We have a few other words for it. Today there were twenty of the beautiful birds, all hanging out on the lawn. It's quiet here right now, with most of us away on our own vacation, so the wildlife is taking advantage. These birds will leave when the snow comes -- which given the look of the sky yesterday will be pretty soon.
It cannot be soon enough. We think Canada geese are strikingly handsome birds, amazingly able to migrate huge distances working in partnerships that increase the distance they can fly by up to 70% and lower their heart rate by flying in those great V shapes. We could all learn about teamwork from them. On the down side, in the past few years, the geese seem to be migrating less, and hanging about more, and that's an issue.
So while we like them, we like them best when they are in flight.
The deer are clustered on the lawn right now as well. While they can be correctly termed a herd when they reach certain numbers, smaller groupings like this are more properly referred to as a "parcel" of deer.
No comments:
Post a Comment