Delta Geese

We've noticed several posts on the Mississippi Bird list server about Snow Geese in the Delta not far from here. The geese are common in many areas of the US in winter, especially in farm land that is semi-flooded, but Wifeunit and I had never actually seen them, even though we've been on trips through the Delta in winter several times. I was determined to see them, so yesterday we drove northwest through Pocahontas and up into the hills and high bluffs that mark the boundary of the vast, flat Mississippi Delta.

The road we followed falls out of the bluffs and into the little town of Satartia, next to the Yazoo River. We learned on our Indian Mound trip last year that the Yazoo River was originally the subject of Stephen Foster's song "Sewannee River", but he asked the meaning of the name Yazoo and was told it meant River of Death, so that was that.

We drove out of Satartia into the flat farmland and before too long we found the Snow Geese -thousands of them - and they all had something to say. The word "cacaphony" would be appropriate to describe what we heard when we pulled over and rolled down the windows. Our trip turned out to be shorter that expected since we found the geese so far south. Mission Accomplished.

Today I took advantage of rare calm wind conditions and a reasonably warm 45 degrees, and canoed out into the middle of beautiful Pelahatchie Bay. I was alone but for 2 fishermen far away, and a few dozen Least Terns and Ring Billed Gulls. The wind picked up a little and forced me back in, but I was able to snag a few nice pieces of driftwood.