The Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) has adapted well to human civilization, nesting around park ponds, golf courses, farms, etc...; often being considered a nuisance. However, I think this photo harkens to a time when the species was considered a symbol of wilderness…a harbinger of the changing seasons in the northern Great Lakes region, as was so eloquently described by, author, Sigurd Olson, in 1956:
Suddenly out of the north came the sound I had been waiting for, a soft, melodious gabbling that swelled and died and increased in volume until all other sounds were engulfed by its clamor. Far in the blue I saw them, a long skein of dots undulating like a floating ribbon pulled toward the south by an invisible cord tied to the point of its V.