When the Geese Return

There’s a stretch of days in the North Country when winter hasn’t quite let go, but you can feel it loosening its grip.

The lakes are still holding ice—Island Pond included—but the fields have begun to open. The snow pulls back just enough to reveal last year’s grass, and with it comes the first real sign that something is changing.

The geese know it before we do.

They gather in quiet fields like this, moving slowly, feeding, waiting. By evening, they’ll lift off again—headed for whatever open water they can find nearby. They’re not settled yet, just passing through or pausing along the way.

But their presence says something steady and sure:
the season is turning.

It doesn’t happen all at once. There’s no single moment where winter ends and spring begins. Just small signs—subtle, easy to miss if you’re not looking.

A patch of ground.
A distant call overhead.
A handful of birds in a thawing field.

And then, before long, everything changes.