An Observation on Huntley Meadows in January

At dusk the geese fly home to Huntley Meadows
They come from the wide river
Down Old Mt Vernon Highway
19 or 20, in formation
Calling to one another, some in pairs
To sleep among the cattails.

They say that when the first settlers arrived
The sky was black for five days
When the geese were migrating
These days there are fewer of them

I am glad for them that they have survived
Even in such few numbers

The egrets are gone
South, I guess
Occasionally a blue heron or two
Spearing fish or lifting themselves
With heavy wings out of the water

Mallards are there too
Each pair waiting for Spring
And a new brood of ducklings

In Spring the snappers will come
Up from the mud

Wildfowl and reptiles

Snakes and salamanders
And the egrets will return

One day the egrets will return