Return of the geese

Pairs of Canada geese on the Rideau this morning, beside Stanley Park

The snow that fell yesterday will soon disappear; the grass in the parks is visible again (looking remarkably green on Sunday) and the geese are returning. The first thing I heard from outside this morning was a honking. We spotted three of them by the Ottawa River Parkway at the weekend and they're homing in on the Rideau now.

From the Hinterland Who's Who website:

Spring is a very energetically demanding time in a goose’s life, especially for breeding females. Canada Geese feed intensively during the few weeks before they leave southern agricultural areas to prepare for a period with little food when they first arrive on the northern breeding grounds. They will need sufficient reserves of fat and protein to complete migration, produce a clutch of eggs, and survive for about one month of incubation.

One of my friends told me she'd seen a beaver too, swimming in the Rideau.