Spring thieves

In our (Johan and Marinde’s) front yard, cars dash through rush hour like salmon in a spawning stream. As they fight their way to their destination, traffic lights keep pulling them down, like bear claws. The road roars like a river when the traffic light finally shows green, very bear unlike. Inside the apartment, we try to ignore the constant river flow. We preferably focus on our backyard view: glancing at the secret life of the backyard squirrel on the wire, following the daily rhythm of the local crow club, and keeping the jay entertained with a portion of peanuts. We both rush to the window as quick as the casual Corvette when vulture wings flash shades on our balcony. Something we do not see every day! Summer in Vancouver. Rather not miss it!

Johan enjoying summer like a Vancouverite
-Johan geniet van de zomer als een echte Vancouveriaan-

Back to spring though. Already for a few months, I have returned from my Estonian adventure. Not surprisingly, I haven’t told you the whole story yet. Let me wake up your memories. I flew to Estonia on the 24^th of April. On the 10^th of May, I got company of Vena. She watched geese with me until the 20^th of May. Soon after I followed her way back to the Netherlands on the 26^th of May.

Back to spring memories, juniper shrubs and sea air
-Terug naar voorjaar gedachten, jeneverbesstruiken en zeelucht-

I will recall from my last post that I was heading to the Island Saaremaa. The largest island of Estonia apparently is famous for its windmills. Contrasting to the senior women on the ferry, I was not looking for them. My mission was to find the shadow that chases thousands of geese into the air like dust particles. First of all, I was looking for geese. Pointing my ears (and the nose of my car) into the direction of the west coast, I drove through the rural landscape. Large birds of prey waved at me from the metal blue sky, wings widely stretched. With the relative calm maximum speed of 90 km/h, I still went too fast to identify the heavenly silhouettes. Nevertheless, I would find my eagles later. 

Contrastingly to what I tell you in the story, I did look for windmills ;-)
Ik heb stiekem toch windmolens gezocht op Saaremaa

Geese I soon found in the backyard of my next accommodation in Toomalõuka. About 900 barnacle geese fed there in relative scattered groups. They did not show the concentrated flocks of scared geese. As I could have predicted at that moment, I did not see a single eagle in the next five days I watched these geese. Driven to find the eagles, I explored the coastal meadows along the vast south coast, scanning for the black and white zebra-like birds, grazing like zebras after all.

Anti-predation behaviour of barnacle geese: cramming together!
Anti-predatiegedrag van brandganzen: dicht tegen elkaar!

Later on, it appeared I searched too early. After picking up Vena from Tallinn, who was going to keep me company in the less lonely weeks that remained, we found the famous flocks of Estonia in Matsalu bay. Bird watchers told us they arrived only the day before. It did not take long before eagles showed themselves. Most days we saw at least two eagles, sometimes more. After spending more days at Matsalu Bay, we returned to Saaremaa to see how things were going there. We were not disappointed. On spots where I found only a few goose drops a week before, we could hardly see the grass through the geese now! Of course we were not the only creatures attracted to these gatherings; soon the flocks were blackening the sky when a dot in the sky appeared out of nowhere. We learned that geese are not very accurate in characterising their greatest enemy: they also flush for cranes, herons, air crafts, and anything else that is big and black against the sun. 

Common Cranes (Grus grus) probably felt powerful like eagles when they again flushed thousands of geese
-Kraanvogels voelden zich vast net zo sterk als arenden als ze al die ganzen onder zich zagen opschrikken-

Although we were always craving to see the legendary richness of Estonian wildlife, we constantly saw it when we least expected it. After a failed moose expedition at 5:30 in the morning, we saw two moose cross the road right in front of us when we were heading for our field site three hours later. Foxes appeared in the middle of the goose flocks. One of the foxes showed photo model capabilities after passing us only 20m away. More moose showed up during an expedition to find a breeding goose colony. Although the islands were deserted, a swimming moose made my day. Luckily, I still have to go back to Estonia next spring. I still have to see wolves, bears, lynx, and the legendary black stork.

Capturing to see that such a large animal can hide so well
-Prachtig om te zien dat zo'n groot dier zich zo goed kan verstoppen-

From mid May, wherever we went, we heard geese calling from the sky. Even on a remote site like Panga pank, a cliff on the north side of Saaremaa, we were soon followed by the familiar V shaped flocks. However, after taking Vena* back to the airport, I soon discovered that the geese had left as well. The sky was eerily silent without continuous goose chatter from the clouds, announcing another flock of seventy geese. Eagles on long distance flights apparently felt a bit deserted just like me. At the same time, summer weather changed Estonia in a mosquito eldorado. 

During daylight, Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) could not scare geese as well as eagles
-Overdag kon Vos de ganzen niet zo goed laten schrikken zoals zeearenden-

My last road trip to Tartu led to the discovery that summer had really started in Estonia. It’s amazing how fast spring changes into summer in this country. Brown, unborn fields greeted me during my descending flight to Tallinn Airport on the 24^th of April. Not long after, on the 28^th of April, I saw the first leaves pop out of willows, more than a month after I saw the same thing happen in British Columbia. After one week, I was once again greeted: this time by whooshing eagle wings through goose flocks. Trees woke up around the 9^th of May. At the time I left Estonia on the 26^th of May, summer had fully revealed itself.  

Cattle took over the goose meadows at the start of the gooseless summer
-Rundvee nam de ganzenvelden over toen de gansloze zomer begon

Spring hardly exists in Estonia. I think I know why. Although a famous goose researcher stated that geese ride the green waves of spring growth, I am quite sure that geese steal spring. At the moment they leave their meadows, they take spring with them on their journey. Take it with them to their breeding grounds. Why else would snow melt in the cold Arctic regions where they breed? Geese simply are spring thieves.

*For travelling tips about Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia, you can easily ask me and Vena. Here are some: just snake through its medieval streets until you are too hungry to continue, and then eat a goat cheese sandwich on a square in the eye of one of the beautiful bell towers. Do not forget to visit the black angel statue along the beach east from the city, but be careful for her crow companions; they might unintentionally steal your phone.

Thank you Vena, for going on adventure with me!