Canada Geese in flight

"Out of the clouds I hear a faint bark, as of a far-away dog. It is strange how the world cocks its ears at that sound, wondering. Soon it is louder: the honk of geese, invisible, but coming on.
"The flock emerges from the low clouds, a tattered banner of birds, dipping and rising, blown up and blown down, blown together and blown apart, the wind wrestling lovingly with each winnowing wing. When the flock is a blur in the far sky I hear the last honk, sounding taps for summer."
Aldo Leopold wrote that in *A Sand County Almanac* about migrating geese that did not stop in his state of Wisconsin. By contrast, here in Oregon's Willamette Valley the geese are happy to stop for the winter in our green fields, and if we happen to live nearby, we can enjoy "goose music" almost daily.