Questions

Geese flying over my apartment are not unusual, but this morning I was awakened by honking and looked up to see them flying south.  That is unusual.

I didn't think too much more about it until I walked later today.

Coming up on the goose pond I felt a sort of let down.  Something was not right.  The whole area looked bleak and weathered. The few geese, about twenty, that lay between me and the sidewalk around the pond didn't panic and run like they usually did.

And that was when I noticed it.

There were still a lot of ducks on the water and sitting in the grass around it, but all the rest of the geese were gone.

Sometime since yesterday and today there had been a mass migration!  Maybe I saw the tail of it when I woke up?

I wondered what precipitates such a huge move?  How do geese decide when it is time to leave?

We've already had snow and ice this year.  We've even had the pond freeze right up to the middle, but they stayed.  Now they were gone.

I wonder how many different flocks were here?  I wonder a lot of things, like when will they return?

And if the ones still here will spend the winter?