Some years it comes early other years a bit late. Here on our homestead Spring matters. Our sheep want to get out and eat grass as the snow melts. Our chickens and ducks also want to forage for their own meals. Nothing says Spring to a hen like digging up bugs under the leaves in the woods. Our Border Collies really love Spring. Spring is time for more work! Work is a Border Collie thing. The chickens and ducks and the sheep all get herded in and out of pasture each day. I train with the Border Collies for sheepdog trials and herding demonstrations. And of course, there is all the goose control work which can get very busy in Springtime.
As I sit here writing this blog here at home in eastern New York the snow is falling gently down as it has so many times this late winter. But the days are getting warmer there have been no negative temps for a while. And the seed catalog for the gardens sits next to me with the order form almost complete. Each year as it has for us for three decades, thereabouts, the garden is tilled and planted new chicks arrive maybe some lambs and the Border Collies skills, mine too, get polished. We want to be ready for the tomatoes to grow and the Border Collies to be at their best.
As I was driving about recently in nearby Massachusets to do some errands I was surprised to see geese fly over. And this was the third week of February! The snow was heavy on the ground with more to come. All the ponds and lakes had ice. But a flock of geese was flying overhead. I was guessing they were ready for spring too. However, I then remembered seeing geese flying over western Massachuseets at the same time last year. My wife and I were on a guided nature hike through a winter nature conservation property. The naturalist we were with was startled at the sight of geese. But I’m guessing that geese as with songbirds maintain a schedule rather than taking weather cues. So I think it is good to be ready.
But despite my late winter observations, it is with just a little warm weather and snow and ice melt that geese show up. My clients in the Connecticut Valley report geese activity earlier in the year than clients further north.
Small flocks of geese seem to show up first. Then pairs will separate and start settling down to nest sometimes with snow still present.
Border Collies do a good job herding wild geese into the sky and convincing them to go somewhere else. You do that herding job enough and geese lose their interest in a property and go somewhere else where the pickings are easier. Here on our homestead the Border Collies and our mix-breed Nash who has a somewhat personalized role in our team help with bird control for the sake of the garden. The dogs will also keep rabbits away from eating garden greens and blackbirds from eating the chicken food. Occasionally a fox or cyotee will come too close and the dogs are a big help there too. It’s all about nonlethal wildlife, goose control, and the joy of spring.