The Birds Are Back In Town

I went for a run this morning and the geese and the swans were going nuts. Skagit County is phenomenal for birds, and we get a lot of migratory birds in the winter, including eagles, big geese, big swans, snow owls, and probably a lifetime of other birds to figure out. Many of the birds go to the far north in the summer, and then travel down to our somewhat warmer climes in the winter. So, when they return, it marks the change of the seasons.
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I hesitate to say what I was seeing this morning, as I’ve come to realize that I don’t know the difference between a goose and a swan. I just went to the Skagit Audubon Society site, and I learned that we have all sorts of big white birds that come here around this time, like Snow Geese, Canadian Geese, Trumpeter Swans, and Tundra Swans.
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As such, I will just write that I saw at least 500 large birds feeding in a Nookachamps field. They were having a convention, coming, going, just hanging out. They'd fly in threes, sevens, twelves, all sorts of formations---probably swans, with their long necks and loud honks, flying low above the fields. I ran near the Skagit River, alongside stripped corn fields. Skies were pink, sun rising, 32 degrees. Around one turn, I kicked up a heron. Around another, an owl took off and flew alone towards Clear Lake. At the top of a hill, there a were a thousand pipers, on the wires, on the fence, lifting off, coming back, as I stirred them up.
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I got charged by two dogs, no leashes--a golden retriever and later some sort of black retriever. Friendly doges, no problems, but there was contact with the golden retriever. Then a young cow cantered or loped or ran however young cows do, from halfway across a field, and paced me alongside a fence as I turned up another road. I think it thought I was going to feed it.
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Then---and this is sort of classic---a car full of Jehovah Witnesses pulled over, stopped me, and gave me some Watchtower literature. I was like, ok. I thought the guy who stepped out was going to ask me for directions. Not so. This is a first for me. I suppose he’s shining his light on a hill.
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After running, I did a brief volunteer stint at the Turkey Trot. Lots of great folks running and volunteering. Then yardwork. Swept my roof. Then work work. A comfortably ordinary weekend. So far.