I've been doing a lot of "research" on the sandhills because of a discussion group I'm leading this week,and find them so fascinating. I've found several sites with sound wavs and good grief,when you hear hundreds upon hundreds of them at once,it really is unreal. We have gaggles of Canada geese going by every day.regardless of the season. They are just flying back and forth to local ponds,don't really migrate like they used to,and sometimes get so close you can hear their wings flap. I love them.Hang in there George...spring will happen.

Hey Paul, my father-in-law lives off Brickell by the Rickenbacher causeway, so we take a few trips a year down to Miami to visit. A couple of my favorite places to eat are an Italian place called Cafe Vialetto (Italian with a Latin flair), another Italian place called Casa Tua (a bit pricey), and Michael's Genuine Food & Drink is probably one of my absolute favorite places to go. There are a lot of good Cuban restaurants, and I love Cuban food, but I have yet to find anyone doing anything adventurous with it down there. For reference: Michael's: http://www.michaelsgenuine.com/ Vialetto: http://hosting.mandica.com/vialetto/Caffe_Vialetto/Caffe_Vialetto.html Casa Tua: http://www.casatualifestyle.com/ My wife grew up in Miami, I'll email over some other suggestions after talking to her. We are both huge foodies that love to cook at home and dine out.

I am seeing a family of 8 visit often and they are getting bigger. One is definitely lighter with orange beak and feet. All too little to fly now. I am wondering if it'll fly? I am thinking one of my domestic geese laid an egg on the island and the Canada goose sat on it and laid her eggs? My domestic white geese don't fly, so if this one does, it'll be a real treat if we continue to see him/her :) The above photos may be domestic, but domestic geese don't fly and Tracey above said she watched the flock fly in. My three families have been back each year for the past 3 years. Would love some feed back. Thank you :)

Hearing migrating geese is always a thrill. For how many centuries have people heard that sound? I like the 'crunch' of dry snow underfoot. There's a creek on one side of our house. There's sound there all year -- toads, birds, right now about ten mallards whose quacking is driving our Westie crazy. One spring (in another house) a pair of red-tail hawks raised their two offspring near us. We could watch the parents teach the young-uns how to hunt. The four would line up along the peak of the church roof behind our house, and 'screeee' as they stooped on mice in the churchyard. Deer frequent the path along the creek. *They* are soundless, but when our Westie sees them, he has a special 'deer-bark' to alert us. He's learned to just say, "They're HERE," and be quiet. I like to hear a cricket on a dark, silent night. I like the soft creaking of trees in a wind. The 'tee-dee' of a redwing blackbird often announces spring.