The Russian Way

By Les Tanner

Photos by Jan Boles

I don’t know how it is elsewhere, but it’s almost a certainty that everyone who lives here in the Treasure Valley is familiar—maybe too familiar—with the large gray and brown geese that frequent the area. They are seen on golf courses, in city parks, and in grain fields, and they leave plenty of evidence of their having been there.

These are Canada geese. In North Dakota, where we lived before moving to Idaho long ago, the spring migrations of these birds, in their long V-shaped and loud formations, were welcome harbingers that winter was over, while the fall migrations foretold the coming of the next one.

In this part of the country and in many other areas, these geese have become all-year residents. Once in a while, a flock may fly overhead as if they were migrating, but they probably are headed for Lake Lowell or other bodies of water in the area.