The arrival of a swallow doesn't mean spring, but it comes when a flock of geese break through the warm mist of March.
If a bishop finch sings spring to the warm current, but finds that he has made a mistake, he can correct his mistake and remain silent in winter; If a chipmunk wants to come out to bask in the sun, but it encounters a snowstorm, it can also go back to sleep; And a wild goose that migrates regularly made a bet that it would fly 200 miles in the dark, and once it left, it would not be so easy to withdraw.
The geese who come to our farm to announce the arrival of the new season know a lot of things, including the laws and regulations of the seven-star Kangxing. Birds flying south in October+165438 flew overhead, and even if they found their favorite beaches and swamps, they were almost silent. Crows are usually considered to fly in a straight line, but compared with geese flying 200 miles south to the nearest great lake, their flight is curved. When the geese arrive at their destination, they sometimes wander on the wide water and sometimes run to the newly harvested corn fields to pick up corn kernels. These geese know that every swamp and pond has a gun pointed at them from morning till night.
Goose in March is different. Although they may be shot for most of the winter, it is a truce. They turned around along the winding river, passed through hunting spots and small continents without guns now, and whispered to every beach, just like whispering to long-lost friends. They meander through swamps and meadows, saying hello to every newly melted puddle and pond. After a few tentative circles over our swamp, their white tails turned to the distant hills, and finally slowly flapped their black wings and slipped quietly to the pond. As soon as we touched the water, the new guests would scream, as if the water they splashed could shake off the fragile cattails in winter. Our goose is back.
Once the first group of geese came here, they clamored to invite every group of migrating geese. It doesn't need much. They can be found everywhere in swamps. On our farm, we can measure the richness of spring according to two figures: pine trees planted and geese staying. In April 1946, 1 1, we recorded 642 geese.
Like autumn, our spring goose goes to the cornfield every day, but it is by no means sneaking around. From morning till night, they flew noisily to the harvested corn fields in groups. There is a loud and interesting debate before each departure, and the debate before each return is even louder. The returning geese no longer hover tentatively over the swamp, but fall from the sky like withered maple leaves and extend their feet to the cheering birds below. The ensuing whispers are about the value of food. The corn they eat now is covered with thick snow all winter, so it has not been found by crows, cotton-tailed rabbits, voles and ring-necked pheasants looking for corn in the snow.
By observing the gathering routine of spring geese, people noticed that all lonely geese have a * * * nature: they frequently fly and sing, and their voices are melancholy, so people came to the conclusion that these lonely geese are sad and single.
My students and I noticed the number of each goose team. Six years later, there was an unexpected glimmer of hope in the explanation of Lonely Goose. From the numerical analysis, it is found that occasionally there are more geese than 1 composed of 6 or multiples of 6. In other words, the geese are some families, or the aggregation of some families. Those lonely geese are only roughly in line with our previous imagination. They are survivors who have lost their loved ones. Dull and boring numbers can stimulate the sentimentality of bird lovers.
On April nights, when the weather is warm enough to stay outside, we like to listen to the geese gathering in the swamp. There, it was quiet for a long time, and all people heard were the sound of snipes flapping their wings, the cry of distant owls, or the gurgling sound from the nose of affectionate American sandpipers. Then, suddenly asked, the harsh goose cry appeared, with a rapid and chaotic echo. The sound of wings flapping on the water, the sound of webbed paddling, and the shouts of the audience in the heated debate. Then, a deep voice spoke for the last time, and the noise gradually subsided, only some vague and sparse voices could be heard.
When the Chinese Pulsatilla flowers are in full bloom, we geese collect less rice. When May comes, our swamp will be full of grass again, and red-winged blackbirds and black-faced frogs will add more vitality to it.
At the Cairo Conference of 1043, it was found that the alliance between countries was unpredictable. However, this concept of goose union has a long history. Every May, they risk their lives to realize this basic belief.
Since the Pleistocene, every March, the wild geese have sounded the joint horn, from China Sea to Siberia, from Euphrates River to Volga River, from Nile River to Murmansk, from Lincolnshire to Spitsbergen Islands.
Due to the international migration of this wild goose, Illinois corn grains can pass through the clouds and be taken to the permafrost in the Arctic. In this annual migration, the whole continent got a useful and wild poem that fell from the sky in March.