48 THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 
Photograph by A. M. Bailey 
CANADA GEESE 
The Horseshoe Lake Sanctuary 
By AtFrep M. BaILey 
When late October rolls ’round, and the warm sun of Indian sum- 
mer throws intricate shadows among the cypresses which line Horseshoe 
Lake, the first of the Canada Geese drop in from their trek from north- 
ern breeding grounds. There is no evidence of frost in the air; the leaves 
of the trees are green and the beautiful asters nodding in the wind give 
no hint of approaching winter. But the geese begin to arrive on schedule. 
These first arrivals are not migrating because of inclement conditions to 
the northward—they have simply grown tired of their summer homes and 
have commuted, as have their ancestors before them, over the unmarked 
sky trails to this place of refuge. Flocks of fifteen to fifty, in wedge 
formation, cut the blue from the distant north, their wild voices calling 
from afar to those which have arrived before them, and they, in turn, 
being answered by birds massing upon the glistening waters of the ox 
bow lake. The new arrivals coast in on set wing, high in the air until 
over their winter home, and then spiral downward, breaking into family 
groups as they join the welcoming clamorous throng. Birds continue to 
