The waddlers are back

These few, these happy few, five to be exact have made it back to Tisdale in time to officially greet spring. It is a little confusing about the dating of the arrival of spring but it is an occurance marked by the passage of the sun over the equator creating a nearly equal day and night often called the Vernal equinox.

It is a fairly precise time and takes place at 0700 UTC, that is seven in the morning London England time on March 21 in 2007. We are six hours difference so for us that moment in time will be at 1:00AM tonight. I was a little confused because CBC said it was at 6:00 PM this evening and CKRM in Regina

decided that it was at 7:00 this evening both are incorrect.

Whatever the case by sun rise tomorrow morning it will be officially spring and these five geese and those of us who care can be confident that in due course the snow will melt, the streams will flow and the grass beneath the snow will turn green once more.

I truly admine these Canada geese, their sublime confidence to head for home despite miles and miles of snow beneath their wings as they have been heading north over the prairies

they know that the snow will indeed melt away and the ponds will soon be open and they can set their nests and raise their young for the summer of 2007. Truly remarkable!

These creatures are tough and courageous. I really wish I could talk to them and find out how their winter was and delve into the adventures they have had since they spread their wings and headed south back in October. This group of five could be a pair as they mate for life and their jeuvnil offspring, it is hard to tell and I do not speak Niska (Niska is the Cree name for Canada geese) and they don't even do sign language to communicate with us humans.