Into the Woods with Curio: Canadian Geese Family Strategy

“My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth…Indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep…The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night… The LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” 

Psalm 121:2,4,6,8

The geese are back! You have probably seen and heard the V-shaped flocks flying over, their unmusical honks telling us that spring is on the way. It’s an advantage for the geese to come back early, as it gives them the best choices for nesting locations. Soon they’ll be raising another brood of goslings. Once they have young it is best to beware, as Canada geese are territorial, and aggressively protective of their young.

Canada geese didn’t always nest here, or anywhere south of the arctic. That’s right – Canada geese used to nest in the arctic, and some races of Canadas still do, along with the five other goose species in North America, including snow geese, white-fronted geese, Ross’ geese, brant and emperor geese. The only times Canada geese used to be seen in Muskoka and in southern Ontario were during their spring and fall migrations. When Europeans arrived the Canada geese were eventually not seen much at all. Overhunting and habitat destruction greatly reduced their populations, as it did many other ‘game-bird’ species. That changed with the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, which provided much needed protection. Following the implementation of this act a profusion of new wildlife refuges were created, helped along by a number of captive breeding programs. The Canada goose population slowly recovered. The geese didn’t migrate as far south in the winter, and soon some of them stopped migrating altogether.

Fast forward to the present. We now have an over-population of Canada geese in Muskoka and in many other locations in eastern North America. Regulating hunting certainly helped, but their population boom is also because we have created ‘goose heaven’. Canada geese are grazers, feeding on grasses all day long, something like cows. The lawns of golf courses and municipal parks provide lots of food, water is right there, and the open spaces and docks provide loafing areas. With few natural predators in these urban and suburban areas, and no hunting allowed there, the geese are quite safe.

It’s no wonder there are so many geese. However, there is something else besides regulated hunting and ideal habitat that has made Canada geese so successful. It is also because of how well they take care of their families.  

If you have ever watched a family of geese, from a safe distance, you will have noticed that one of their number is always ‘on guard’. The family or flock always has at least one adult watching for danger while the others feed. The adults take turns, but they rarely let their guard down. This, I think, is one of the main reasons that Canada geese prosper. They take excellent care of their families.

We want to do that, too. However, even with grandparents and aunts and uncles, families can’t always be on guard. We certainly need to be, with all of the dangers nowadays for our children, and ourselves.  Thankfully God is always ‘on guard’, watching over us better than any parent can. He has provided the ultimate deliverance from evil and sin through His Son. Asking the Lord Jesus to be our Saviour brings us into His family, making us one of God's children. God the Father pardons us and becomes our loving heavenly Father, who protects and provides for us now, while we are here, and forever.

Duncan’s Reflections: Winter Days and Summer Nights

Praise the Lord from the earth … lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding, you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars (Ps. 148:7-9).

Fifty years ago my wife and I first came to Beacon, bringing groups of High School students as well as our daughters. Back then we were given the camp names of Duncan & Hines, perhaps because Duncan Hines was someone’s favourite cake mix!

Since then, we’ve come in every season and every kind of weather. We always saw the hand of God in the exquisite beauty of the rocks and trees, bare or covered in snow, the sunny days when time stood still, and the powerful storms that made the trees sing.

I’ll never forget our X-country ski hikes in those early years. Together with a group of 8 students, we’d blaze a trail through deep snow. Up the rocky hills, along the train tracks, down the hill, and onto the 3rd lake. (Beacon had no snowmobiles in those days.) The first skier would make the initial cut in the deep snow, with the 2nd and 3rd skiers also working hard. We’d take turns. When we took a break, there was a profound stillness, as deep snow is so effective in absorbing sound.

Another indelible memory is a summer evening at one of the adult camps. John and I decided to go for a late paddle under the stars. Unknown to us, that was the night God had decided to place in the sky above the lake an enormous, scintillating blue-green band - the Northern Lights. What an awesome, unique display!

Northern Lights only appear every decade or so, when the Sun is in the active part of its cycle. Fortunately, it's reaching its peak activity in the year 2025. So, this summer and the next two might give us some remarkable displays. Often, however, they don't come out until near midnight. (You can see them well from up the ridge on the other side of the railway crossing. So, there’s no need to go out on the lake at night, as we did!)

In Psalm 104, the poet considers all these wonderful aspects of nature – brilliant light, clouds, winds, even deep snow – as God’s clothes and chariot: “Lord my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendour and majesty. The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment … He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind” (Ps. 104:1-2). That’s why we give “eyes to creation” at Beacon, as well as “hearts to God.”

So far, I’ve only reflected on winter and summer at Beacon. Spring and Fall have many other special things to show us. But that’s for another time. Meanwhile, as we reflect on the many things we’ve seen at Beacon, we can just repeat the final verse of the Psalms. “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.” (Ps. 150:6).