Each year in the very early spring we begin to wonder if our goose and gander will return to nest in our front yard pond again. During the winter we see various small and large groups of geese spending a day or a few hours on our pond or flying over it to the bigger pond in the next field. We are never sure if "our" pair is one of these geese or not. We can tell for sure however when they begin fighting for their territory. Then the gander that has been with us for at least 10 years will start fighting off every other gander that comes near. This happens weeks before the nesting period, but he is not taking any chances.

We always wonder if some of the ones he fights off are his own sons who were raised in this pond the summer before. I wish there was a way we could put nametags on them so we could know. It would be nice to know that this goose was from 2004 while that over there was a 2005 breed.

We know this pair has been here, raising goslings, at least 10 years.

We can identify them by their actions and by a tag that was put on the gander's ankle when he was hatched. So we know that probably 60 or 70 offspring grew up thinking that this is home. Obviously they could not all return here to nest, and the old gander has only let one other pair remain on the pond one time.

We can't help wondering what the young ones think when the parents that have protected them, led them from pond to pond and stayed with them through their growing up months, suddenly fight them off. I guess it is like the birds that kick their young out of the nest at the proper time. They still hover around for a few days to protect them as they learn to fly, but then they go on to raising another nestful.

As humans we can't understand this practice. We can't imagine fighting off a son or daughter who comes home. We extend the welcome mat to as many generations as we live to see.

But then, thankfully, we don't continually keep having more young ones after a certain age. The geese however have to fight off the older progeny or they wouldn't be able to raise the new crop of goslings.

The Natural Event's Calendar put out by the Department of Conservation tells us that March 19 was the date that Canada Geese began nesting. We don't think our pair has read the calendar because they definitely showed signs that something was underway as early as the 15th. The goose spent several hours in the elevated nest while the gander swam around beneath it.

Then they both walked together across our lawn to the green wheat field for a leisurely meal before returning to the pond.

Sometimes if we wake up just as it is getting light we will see the gander standing outside our bedroom window looking in. I think he remembers that we used to feed them some cracked corn several years ago, but we have not always continued that practice. They had plenty of food from our acorns and young wheat.

I still throw out an occasional bread crust or cracker just to be sure they still know that we are their friends.

We can be sure that this year we will again be entertained by watching our goosey family. We never get tired of observing their actions. And from all appearances we think they also enjoy watching us. So far I don't think they have written any essays about us yet however.