Field Notes from the Past #7

Being a continuation of field-journal entries from the springs of 1962 and 1963 when I was a budding ornithologist of just 15 or 16 growing up in the rural village of Galien in Berrien County, Michigan.

April 13 [1963], Saturday

Worked all day in the [IGA Grocery] store. Walking home at 8:00 PM I thought I heard in the distance what sounded like the barking of a chorus of dogs. Upon listening closer, I recognized it as the "honking" of [Canada] Geese. It was almost pitch dark but I could make out a large flock of geese as [it] flew almost directly overhead on it's way north. I had always thought of geese as migrating only during the day. This is the first time I had ever heard the honking of geese at such close range and it's a sound I shall never forget. It is certainly a call of the wild and must [be] unforgetable [sic] when heard in the wilderness.